黑匣子如何工作？

A possible break in the mystery of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 plane came when ships detected "pings" consistent with the aircraft's black box. But how does a black box actually work? 据报道，搜寻船只探测到疑似客机黑匣子的脉冲信号，这是失联航班MH370谜团中一个重大突破。但是黑匣子到底如何工作？   Black boxes, or flight recorders, are electronic devices that record information on an airplane to be used in the event of a severe incident such as a crash. Usually, an aircraft carries two types of recorders.   The first, a flight data recorder, makes a record of instructions sent to a plane's electronic systems; the second, a cockpit voice recorder, makes a record of conversations, radio communications and other sounds in the cockpit. Sometimes, the recorders are part of the same unit.   Black boxes, which are actually bright orange, are designed to withstand extreme forces and temperatures, and are usually located in the tail of the aircraft, where they are least likely to encounter an impact.