Jamie Freed, Tim Hepher

(Reuters). -Chinese authorities recovered on Sunday the second black box belonging to a China Eastern Airlines flight (NYSE:) that crashed into a mountainside with 132 passengers, according to state media. [nL2N2VU011]

Following the recovery of the cockpit voice recorder, (CVR), on Wednesday, the flight data recorder was taken from the site of the crash.

This is the way that black box reading works.

What are BLACK BOXES?

These oranges are high-visibility and not black. While experts aren’t sure how this nickname came to be, they have become synonymous with finding answers about plane crashes.

They were invented by David Warren, an Australian scientist in 1950s. They must be used.

This is not a way to determine legal liability. It’s merely a means to help avoid accidents and identify the causes.

HOW DID THEY EVOLVE?

In the beginning, data was only stored on wire and foil. Modern ones use solid state memory.

They are stored in crash-survivable containers, which can withstand 3,400x the force of gravity at impact.

Two black box recordings of an Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX plane that crashed in March 2019 were found. It was similar to the China Eastern plane and plunged into the ground with a tremendous velocity.

WHAT ARE THEY SIZED?

The main components are approximately 10 pounds and 4.5 kilograms in weight.

* a chassis or interface designed to secure the device and facilitate recording and playback

* an underwater locator beacon

* the core housing or “Crash-Survivable Memory Unit” made of stainless steel or titanium

* inside there, the recordings on chips or older formats.

A CVR records pilot sounds and voices. The FDR captures parameters such as heading, altitude and airspeed.

WHAT MANAGEMENT IS PERFORMED WITH RECORDS?

The technician will remove any protective coating and thoroughly clean the connections in order to ensure they don’t lose data. It is necessary to download the file and then copy it.

At first, data is meaningless. Data must be first decoded using raw files, before it is converted to graphs.

Scientists may use “spectral analysis”, which is a method of studying sounds to find faintly audible alarms, or even the first flash of an explosive explosion.

HOW MUCH INFORMATION CAN YOU GET?

Honeywell (NASDAQ) manufactured both of the black boxes for the China Eastern plane’s China Eastern flight, a Chinese accident investigator Mao Yanfeng said to reporters Wednesday without naming models.

He said that the CVR, located at the back of the cabin, recorded for two- to three hours and had four channels, including the Captain and First Officer, as well as a backup and one for ambient sound in the cockpit.

The China Eastern plane crashed shortly after takeoff, 66 minutes later.

Mao claimed that the FDR in the cargo bay at the back had an average recording time of 25hrs and contained around 1,000 data parameters.

WHERE WILL THE DATA BE READED?

CVR was the first to be discovered and sent to Beijing’s Institute for Decoding.

Mao stated that the CVR’s recording material appeared to be in good condition after the crash.

According to Chinese state media, it could take between 10 and 15 days for a preliminary analysis to be completed, and even longer to reach a final conclusion.

State media reports that the FDR will be dispatched to Beijing on Sunday for inspections.

DATE DURING WHICH RESULTS WILL BE MADE PUBLISHABLE

Although interim reports on a crash can be published within a month, they are usually sparse. It can take up to a year for deeper investigations.

Experts believe that air crashes are usually caused by a mix of several factors.