Flight Data Recorders (FDRs) were developed in the 1950s, shorly after the creation of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The formation of the FAA was spurred in large part by the disastrous collision of two commercial aircraft over the Grand Canyon in 1956, in response to the obvious need for greater control and regulation of safety measures in the nation's increasingly crowded skies. One of the requirements developed by the FAA was that planes be equipped with FDRs, in crash-proof boxes, that would record the history of the flight and the various control inputs made to the plane during the flight. Following a crash, the FDR information could be analyzed to determine what had gone wrong, and to allow recommendations for ensuring the accident did not recur. The FDR quickly acquired the somewhat ominous nickname "black box," which is still in use today.

Several variants...