Why does it get more attention? In case of accidents, the black box – which stores flight data – needs to be tracked in places that are difficult to access, such as the bottom of the sea. Therefore, in addition to being orange, it carries two phosphorescent strips, which reflect light. The expression black box comes from the 50’s, when the electronic circuits of the plane were grouped in compartments, but the correct term is Flight Data Recorder (in English, “ flight data recorder”). “As the functioning of the circuits was obscure, the boxes became known as black boxes, since the black color refers to the unknown”, explains Hildebrando Hoffmann, professor of Aeronautical Sciences at PUC-RS.
And the nickname stuck right in the only box that, by world civil aviation conventions, is obligatorily orange. On average, a black box used by commercial aircraft is 13 cm high and 12 cm long, and can weigh around 5 kg. Made with a titanium alloy and resin, the case withstands temperatures of up to 1100º C.