Apple Computer's popular iPod music player could become a flight data recorder (FDR) following an announcement by US light aircraft manufacturer LoPresti SpeedMerchants to introduce the device in the cockpit of its Fury piston aircraft.

The company says it plans the "full integration of the iPod into the Fury's avionics systems". The iconic 'white box' iPod will serve as a digital data recorder, nicknamed 'black boxes' by the general media. The iPod, with suitable software, acts as a hard disk with the ability to record over 500h of flight time data.

It was not immediately clear from the company's statement which parameters would be recorded and for what purpose.
Vero Beach, Florida-based LoPresti. "The iPod becomes the first truly portable, personal flight recorder with a huge recording capacity."

"This is a watershed technology for aviation," says LoPresti vice president of operations, RJ Siegel, "and we are delighted to be the first to bring it to market." The Fury (pictured below) will prove the concept, but once certificated, the iPod FDR could be deployed on other light aircraft.

Currently small aircraft do not have a black box, so this is not an alternative, it is a solution as of now.

written by Florin C.