The need for a better black box With the use of airplanes as a common means of transportation, flight safety should be a top priority for both aircraft manufacturers as well as for companies. who exploit them. The focus should be on updating aircraft technology to improve passenger safety and enable understanding of failures during flight. Today, during a crash or major in-flight incident, important information about the aircraft is recorded in a flight data recorder commonly known as a black box. Aircraft are typically equipped with two flight data recorders which may be in the same black box or in separate black boxes. There are “two separate pieces of equipment: a cockpit voice recorder, which records all sounds and conversations that take place in the cockpit, and a flight data recorder, which records the operational functions of the aircraft” (Bogart). This recorded information is essential to the improvement and advancement of security policies and procedures. Unfortunately, it is often the case that the aircraft or flight data recorder is unrecoverable or that the information recorded is limited. The lack of appropriate in-flight data recording and retrieval systems prevents critical data collected during an accident from reaching aircraft manufacturers, limiting the ability to improve the safety of individual aircraft. The loss of this data also prevents institutions from implementing new training and policies for pilots and crews that would result in an overall improvement in flight safety. The need for more reliable and advanced in-flight data recording and retrieval systems is critical to the overall safety of commercial air travel. The recovery of downed aircraft and their flight data recorders poses an ongoing challenge to search, rescue and recovery operations. ... middle of paper ...... hington Post. March 11, 2014. The web. April 10, 2014. Lewis, Tanya. “Missing Flight 370: How do black boxes work?” Science Live. April 8, 2014. The web. April 9, 2014.Mahapatra, Lisa. “How many planes crash each year and how many people die in plane crashes?” International Business Times. March 10, 2014. The web. April 9, 2014.Rush, James. “Horror in mid-flight as the plane is forced to land when the pilot becomes “incapacitated” as the cockpit fills with smoke.” Daily mail. February 10, 2013. The web. April 10, 2014.Shalal, Andrea. "US NTSB investigates streaming of 'black box' flight data". Reuters. March 28, 2014. The web. April 9, 2014. Trimble, Stephen. “Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 is clear: we need to rethink black boxes.” the guard. March 9, 2014. The web. April 9, 2014 Wise, Jeff. “What really happened on board the Air France 447” Mécanique populaire. December 6, 2011. Web. April 9. 2014