Was reading an old manual for a 737-200 and found out the original flight data recorder used a 1/4 inch steel wire that could survive a crash at 3,400 Gs.

I mean, that's a wild amount of force for something from the 60s, and it makes you think about how much the basic idea of 'keep the data safe' hasn't really changed, just the tech, right?

2 comments

2 Comments

paige8707d ago

Honestly, that number feels like marketing. What crash even hits 3400 Gs? The plane would be powder. They probably tested it by shooting it out of a cannon into a wall. Today's solid state drives survive real world impacts and hold way more data. The old wire was cool, but it's just a tough party trick.

tarab547d ago

Ever wonder how they actually got that number? I used to think the same thing, total marketing fluff. Then I saw the test footage from back then. They literally put it in a rocket sled, slammed it into a concrete block, and fished the wire memory out of the wreckage to read it. The plane would be dust, but that little coil of wire? Still had the data. That's not a party trick, that's just wild engineering.