Inventor Of CVR Dies On July 19th
July 29, 2010
Do you like this story?Many of us fly aircraft with a cockpit voice recorder (CVR) installed, but did you know that an Australian scientist named David Warren invented this technology? In 1956 he invented the CVR in the wake of accidents in the DeHavilland Comet, the first commercial jet aircraft.
In the period of a year, between May of 1953 and April of 1954 there were a series of 3 mysterious crashes of the 4 engine aircraft. He participated in the investigation into one of these accidents which occurred in Calcutta, India, and conceived of the idea to record audible sounds and voice communications in the cockpit to assist investigators in determining the cause of accidents.
At the time primitive flight data recorders (FDRs) were installed on the aircraft which recorded 5 flight paramteres on a primitive electro-mechanical device. Warren made the first CVR in 1956 based on using magnetic tape and would record for 30 minutes before auto-deleting the first data.
Inventor of the CVR David Warren
Orphaned at the age of 9 when his father died in an airplane crash Warren became the principal scientist involved in research for the Aeronautics Defence Ministry of the Australian Government located in Melbourne.
He was “Known to the world of aviation as the Australian scientist who invented (in 1956) and later developed the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR)
In 2002 Warren was awarded the title of Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his work. Warren was held in high regard by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and contributed greatly to improving aviation safety and accident prevention to the commercial aviation world.
Until next time keep your wings straight and level Hersch!
JetAviator7
There is no problem so complex that it cannot simply be blamed on the pilot.
— Dr Earl Weiner
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