The black box is actually orange - and there are two of them. They house the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder. But crash investigators cannot rely on the black boxes alone. This fascinating book shows how crash investigators, scientists, and engineers use physics and engineering to determine the probable cause of airplane accidents and how resulting safety recommendations are incorporated to make flying safer. Beginning with the 1931 Fokker F-10A crash that killed legendary football coach Knute Rockne, professor George Bibel examines a number of crash investigations through the lens of physical science. He shows how investigators analyze factors like impact, wreckage, loading, fire patterns, metallurgy, fracture, crash testing, and human tolerances to determine how planes crash - and how this forensic investigation is incorporated in aircraft design and operation to keep commercial aviation as safe as possible.
