The “black box” (actually orange, to make it easy to see), is not indestructible. It is, or at least the part that contains the data recording is, pretty darn tough. This is one model. The square boxy part at the left contains the electronics, and isn’t all that tough (the electronics are only needed *while* data is being recorded). The orange cylinder on the right (marked “ENREGISTREUR DE VOL NE PAS OUVRIR” – “FLIGHT RECORDER DO NOT OPEN”) contains the actual data recording device (this one is… (flip.it) 更多...
In this day and age, there is absolutely NO reason that the FDR and CVR data could not ALSO be uploaded in real time to the cloud, and made instantly available in the event of an incident of any kind. The inherent danger of relying on a physical device being found intact if the aircraft is destroyed, would be eliminated. If the recorders are found intact, then they would serve as verification of the material in the cloud storage, but if not found, at least the info transmitted to the cloud would be readily available and completely intact. The other thing that can be done is that cockpit camera data could also be transmitted and stored in the cloud, to assist investigators - obviously in the event of a crash, this would probably need to be destroyed after investigators had finished with it. Just a thought...
The inherent danger of relying on a physical device being found intact if the aircraft is destroyed, would be eliminated. If the recorders are found intact, then they would serve as verification of the material in the cloud storage, but if not found, at least the info transmitted to the cloud would be readily available and completely intact.
The other thing that can be done is that cockpit camera data could also be transmitted and stored in the cloud, to assist investigators - obviously in the event of a crash, this would probably need to be destroyed after investigators had finished with it.
Just a thought...