How does a plane's black box work?

Synopsis

A black box, contrary to its name, is painted bright orange and often covered with reflective tape to aid in recovery, especially in deep water. It consists of two main components: a flight data recorder and a cockpit voice recorder. The flight data recorder captures crucial information such as altitude, direction, fuel levels, and cabin conditions, storing around 25 hours of data. The cockpit voice recorder captures crew conversations and sounds like engine noises and alarms, helping investigators piece together events leading to a crash. The outer casing of a black box is not crash-proof; however, the crash survivable memory unit inside is designed to endure extreme conditions, including 3400 g's of deceleration and temperatures up to 1,100 degrees Celsius. Typically located at the rear of the aircraft, the black box is equipped with an underwater locator beacon that transmits ultrasound pulses, functioning effectively at depths of 14,000 feet, ensuring it can be found after an accident.