The Need for a Better Black BoxWith the use of airplanes as a common method of travel, onboard safety should be a top priority for both airplane manufacturers and for the companies that manage them. Emphasis should be placed on upgrading aviation technology to improve passenger safety and provide an understanding of in-flight failures. Today, during an accident or serious accident in flight, important information about the aircraft is recorded in a flight data recorder commonly called a black box. Airplanes 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 the sounds and conversations that occur in the cockpit, and a flight data recorder, which records the operational functions of the aircraft” (Bogart) . This recorded information is critical to the improvement and advancement of security policies and procedures. Unfortunately, many times the aircraft or flight data recorder is unrecoverable or the information recorded is limited. The lack of adequate in-flight data recording and retrieval systems prevents critical data collected during an accident from reaching aircraft manufacturers, which limits the ability to improve the safety of each aircraft. The loss of such data also prevents institutions from implementing new training and policies for pilots and crews that would lead to an overall improvement in flight safety. The need for more reliable and advanced onboard data recording and retrieval systems is essential to the overall safety of commercial air travel. Recovery of downed aircraft and their flight data recorders is an ongoing challenge for search, rescue and recovery... ... middle of paper ...... hington Post. March 11, 2014. Web. April 10, 2014. Lewis, Tanya. "Missing Flight 370: How Do Black Boxes Work?". Live science. 08 April 2014. Web. 09 April 2014.Mahapatra, Lisa. "How many planes crash every year and how many people die in plane crashes?". Times of international affairs. March 10, 2014. Web. April 9, 2014. Rush, James. “The horror mid-flight when the plane is forced to land as the pilot becomes 'incapacitated' due to the cockpit filled with fumes.” Daily mail. February 10, 2013. Web. April 10, 2014. Shalal, Andrea. “US NTSB investigates streaming 'black box' flight data.” Reuters. March 28, 2014. Web. April 9, 2014. Trimble, Stephen. “Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 makes it clear: we need to rethink black boxes.” theguardian. March 09, 2014. Web. April 09, 2014 Wise, Jeff. "What Really Happened Aboard the Air France 447" Popular Mechanics. 06 December 2011. Web. 09 April. 2014