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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? 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. Clues to missing flight The recorders could offer clues about what happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared enroute from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, with 239 people on board. Investigators have been searching for the plane in the southern Indian Ocean west of Australia, where satellite data suggests the aircraft may have crashed. The black boxes emit underwater locator beacon signals, or pings, at depths of up to 20,000 feet (6,000 meters), for up to 30 days before their batteries die. | 
