black box

Definition

A flight recorder; the brightly colored cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders in an aircraft designed to aid in determining the cause of an accident.

Etymology

* Since c. 1945 in both main senses (that is, event recorders and objects with unknown innards), which are historically related to each other; for details, see black box § History and flight recorder § Terminology. * (a type of theater): Such theaters are often painted black.

Example Sentences

• "scrutinizing all utterances recorded by the black box"
• "the pilothouse's analogue of an airliner's black box"
• "The authentication method and its details can be treated as a black box for purposes of this security architecture overview."