Flight Recorder facts
While investigating facts about Flight Recorder, I found out little known, but curios details like:
Danny Elfman came up with the theme to 'Batman' on a flight from London but since he couldn't write music he kept running to the bathroom to record himself on a tape recorder whenever he had a new idea, causing the flight attendants to think he was a junkie
On 'Rain Man's' release many airlines showed an edited version on flights, cutting the scene in which Ray highlights crash records for specific airlines. Quantas was the only airline that showed the scene in full due to Ray stating they "never crashed."
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 50 of the best facts about Flight Recorder I managed to collect.
-
A SwissAir flight was recording a documentary when an engine failed. The film crew was able to capture the calm and cool of the pilots while they turned the engine off, informed passengers, dumped fuel, ate chocolate and took a coffee break.
-
NASA Astronaut Owen Garriott successfully pranked flight controllers by playing a recording of his wife whilst on SkyLab. There were no women on board the space station and was used to make it look like there was a stowaway.
-
The record for most passengers ever carried by a commercial airliner is 1,088, by an El Al Boeing 747 during Operation Solomon, which involved the evacuation of Ethiopian Jews from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and started on 24 May 1991. This figure included two babies born on the flight.
-
The record for the most passengers on an airplane was set in 1991 when 1086 Ethiopian jews were evacuated on a Boeing 747 to Jerusalem. The plane landed with 1088 passengers as two babies were born during the flight.
-
The SR-71 did more than just take pictures. It could aim its radar 45 degrees to the side, map the terrain like side scan sonar... intercept enemy comm and radar signals, record its entire flight path with infrared cameras... to prove to countries that it didnt violate their airspace.
-
During WWII they developed an ultra long range fighter to escort bomber raids in the Pacific...by joining two heavily modified P-51 Mustangs with one single wing. It still holds the record for longest flight of a piston powered fighter, after flying more than 5000 miles from Hawaii to New York
-
Freddie Mercury was seated behind billionaire record producer David Geffen on a flight when Geffen turned around with his cheque book and said "I want you to sing on my label, just fill in the amount yourself!". Freddie refused.
-
Flight recorders (Black boxes) from military planes float. From commercial planes? they Sink.
-
The cockpit voice recorder of China Northern Airlines Flight 6901 captured the sound of the ground-proximity warning system giving instructions in English and of the crew discussing in Chinese the possible meaning of the English phrase "pull up"
Flight Recorder data charts
For your convenience take a look at Flight Recorder figures with stats and charts presented as graphic.
What is true about flight recorder?
You can easily fact check it by examining the linked well-known sources.
SR-71 pilots sometimes came from bomber aircraft because nobody else had experience in long supersonic flights. A crew taken from a B-58 Hustler ended up setting a world record for longest supersonic flight after flying the SR-71 for over 10 hours... over 15,000 miles. Nonstop.
A flight attendant named Vesna Vulović survived a 33,333 ft fall when the plane she was in broke apart from a bomb explosion. She holds a Guinness World Records, for surviving the highest fall without a parachute - source
On it's last flight one SR-71 Blackbird broke four world speed records. The trip from L.A. to D.C. was completed in a cool 64 minutes 20 seconds. The plane landed at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and has never flown again. - source
Bumblebees hold the insect record for high altitude flying. They have been discovered on Mt. Everest at more than 5,600-meters above sea level, and flew successfully in a flight chamber which recreated the thin air of 9,000-meters.
The Apollo 13 flight, which launched 49 years ago, still holds the spaceflight record marking the farthest humans have ever traveled from Earth. - source
David Warren, the inventor of the black box, was buried in a casket labeled "Flight Recorder Inventor; Do Not Open"
Serbian flight attendant Vesna Vulovic, who holds the Guinness world record for surviving the highest fall without a parachute of 10,160 meters (33,330ft)
In 2007 a woman who only occasionally played an old game boy (for which Tetris was the only game she owned) on long car rides and plane flights broke the world record by 500 lines.
The longest flight lasted over 2 months, a record that hasn't been broken for more than 50 years.
About a Brazilian priest who died 10 years ago after trying to break the world record of "longest flight using helium balloons". His last transmission was asking for someone to "just explain how to use his GPS"
