Black box unveils secrets of crashed Flight 9525
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Black box flight recorders: Located in tail as front of plane expected to act as crush zone, increasing likelihood that black box will survive

Flight 9525 cockpit voice recorder retrieved from crash zone in battered condition

COCKPIT VOICE RECORDER (CVR) Records voices of pilots and other sounds from cockpit for two hours

Circuit board: Processes data from up to 3,000 parameters collected by sensors throughout fuselages

Stacked memory boards: Thermally insulated solid-state flash drives can store several gigabytes of data

50cm 32cm

FLIGHT DATA RECORDER (FDR) Records technical data, including airspeed, altitude, engine performance, status of key systems – autopilot and autothrottle – and position of wing flaps and rudder. FDR of Flight 9525 not yet found

Crash Survivable Memory Unit: Stainless steel or titanium CSMU can withstand impact 3,400 times force of gravity and temperatures up to 1,100C for 60 minutes

Beacon: Transmits ultrasonic pulse every second for 30 days
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Sources: IASA, L-3 Aviation Recorders

Picture: Associated Press

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