Dr David Warren, the Australian inventor of the ‘black box’ flight recorder has died, aged 85.
Warren was a research scientist at the Defence Science and Technology Organisation’s (DSTO) Aeronautical Research Laboratories in Melbourne from 1952 to 1983, and in 1953 was involved in investigations into the crashes of the early De Havilland Comet 1s. Those investigations led to the development in 1957 of the prototype ARL, which was a forerunner to modern cockpit voice recorders, which have become some of the most useful tools in investigating airliner accidents.
Dr Warren received numerous awards throughout his lifetime, including being appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2002, and in 2008 Qantas aqnnounced one of its A380s would be named after him.
