Black box inventor passes away, aged 85

Dr David Warren, the Australian inventor of the ‘black box’ flight recorder has died, aged 85.

Warren was a research scientist at the Defence Science and Technology Organisation’s (DSTO) Aeronautical Research Laboratories in Melbourne from 1952 to 1983, and in 1953 was involved in investigations into the crashes of the early De Havilland Comet 1s. Those investigations led to the development in 1957 of the prototype ARL, which was a forerunner to modern cockpit voice recorders, which have become some of the most useful tools in investigating airliner accidents.