Dave Warren - Inventor of the black box flight recorder

It was Dave Warren’s interest in the possibility of personally recording music that led to the invention of the world’s first flight recorder or ‘black box’.

Dave Warren was a research scientist at the Aeronautical Research Laboratory* (ARL) in Melbourne. In the mid-1950’s he was involved in the accident investigations related to the mysterious crash of the world’s first jet-powered commercial aircraft, the Comet. It occurred to Dave that it would be extremely useful if there had been a recording of what had happened in the aeroplane immediately prior to the crash. Dave then recalled the world’s first miniature recorder that he had recently seen at a trade fair. Suddenly he could visualise such a recorder placed in all aircraft, continually recording details and able to be recovered after a crash.

Back in Australia, plans were made for further development and production. However, a continuing lack of Australian support meant that, as the idea finally took off around the world, companies in other countries moved ahead with development, capturing the growing market.

It was only after the crash of a Fokker Friendship at Mackay (Queensland) in 1960 that the inquiry judge strongly recommended that black box flight recorders be installed in all airliners. Australia then became the first country in the world to make cockpit-voice recording compulsory.

Since that time, Dave Warren’s invention, the black box flight recorder, has been universally adopted as a means to investigate accidents and to prevent their recurrence. The black box flight recorder has more than proved itself with its significant contribution to international airline safety.