Toastmaster Meeting - 22/01/2009

Disappointed... Very disappointed...
Today I did my Project 8 - Using Visual Aids.
I realised this was my worst visual aids presentation ever!
haiz...

I was too nervous. I stumbled. I forgot what i need to say. Not clam enough. My tongue slicked out again. Then what i felt the worst was I changed my voice... haha... Crapz...

But i still learned alot in this meeting.
Some beautiful words:
- threw themselves into the music
- heartware
- expiring runner, not an aspiring runner
- mother nature

What I say:
One of the greatest safety inventions for the commercial airline industry has been the crash protected data recorder, more commonly called as the “black box”. Today, “black box” is mandatory for any aviation accident involving civil aircraft.

The “black box” package consists of 2 equipments. Cockpit Voice Recorder and the Flight Data Recorder. Cockpit Voice Recorder in charge of recording audio sounds that occurred in the cockpit. Sounds from conversation, PA system and even turning on & off switches are recorded. While the Flight Data Recorder stores aircraft flight data such as altitude, speed and time.

All of the black boxes are painted bright orange with large letters "FLIGHT RECORDER DO NOT OPEN"

Why is it called the “black box”?
It was believed that the initial design of the equipment was in black, but later painted bright orange to make them easier to find at a crash scene.

The concept of “black box” became popular after World War. The First Generation Flight Data Recorders were made of foil recorders. It could only store 5 aircraft data parameters. Despite of the breakthrough in technology at that time, the equipment was still unable to meet the design requirements as 5 aircraft parameters was too little for a meaningful investigation. Additionally, the unit could not survive very well in any crash incidents.

In the 1960s, the Second Generation Tape Recorder was introduced. Investigators felt that flight data alone wasn’t enough, they needed more information. What happened? What did the pilot say to the crews? What did the pilot say to the Air traffic controllers? Did the pilot mingle with any switches at the point of accident? These information was vital in the investigation. Due to the requirement, Cockpit Voice Recorder was born. The recording medium for the equipment was magnetic tape. The CVR could retain the last 30minutes of crew voice communications and noise within the cockpit environment. Then the magnetic tape technology expanded to FDR. The Second Generation FDR allowed the equipment to record more parameters while meeting the higher crash and fire protection requirements.

Then the third generation recording technology uses solid state recorders. “Solid State” refers to storage of data in semiconductor memories or integrated circuits. It was surfaced mounted to the electronics board. As compared to the magnetic tape, solid state memory does not have any moving parts. Therefore, it does not require any scheduled maintenance and has a better crash survivability.

With the current solid state technology, CVR will be record up to 2 hours while FDR can record up to 25 hours of flight data.

Talking so much about the evolution of “black box”, so where is it located?

The only part of an aircraft that is often intact after a crash is the tail section. That is why the recorders are located in or near the tail section. The first recorders were placed in the front and very few of them survived a crash.
Knowing the cause of the accidents, not just solve the insurance issues of the airliners and victims. Neither its purpose is to blame anyone or any party to be liable for the incident. The main objective of the investigation of an accident or incident is to prevention another similar accidents or incidents.

Imagine at least a hundred of the similar aircraft model are flying in the sky. If the accident was due to design or even the manufacturing of the aircraft, all these hundred air-borne aircrafts may have a risk to have the same fate as the one that had just met the mishap.

While the initial phase of an accident investigation can be concluded within weeks or even days, the investigators' final report and recommendations often take years to complete. The final report consists of information about the accident, an analysis, conclusions (probable cause) and also includes safety recommendations.

In conclusion, the black box is invaluable for any aircraft investigation. There are often the lone survivors of airplane accidents. As technology evolves, black boxes will continue to play a tremendous role in accident investigations


Thank You.

Time Taken: 7min 20sec

Ah Counting:
- None. (hmm... i think the Ah Counter's ears not very good....)
(I had a few pauses...)


My Evaluator's Evaluation (Grace Tan):
- Present with ease & confident
- Recommedations:
+ Everyone to be issued with coloured pictures of the slides
+ Better to be Power Point slides or Chart
+ Audience was distracted by my give-out
+ hand-shaking while holding the papers

To be frank, I was wondering is it because a 美女 evaluating me,so my heart was like 小鹿乱撞... haha... I wasnt familiar with my visual aids. Additionally, i feel that my preparation wasnt enough... I did not practice with my visual aids. So whenever i started to point at the picture, it broke my rhythm of my speech which was not anticipated earlier.... Sianz..

Must not embarrassed myself again...
Must be CALM! When I am CALM, everything can be solved!