Background
David Warren was born on Groote Eylandt, an island off the coast of the Northern Territory. His father died in a 1934 Bass Strait air crash.
David Warren was born on Groote Eylandt, an island off the coast of the Northern Territory. His father died in a 1934 Bass Strait air crash.
He went on to gain a Bachelor of Science degree with Honours from the University of Sydney, a Doctor of Philosophy in fuels and energy from Imperial College London (as well as a Diploma of Imperial College), and a Diploma of Education from the University of Melbourne.
He was the first child of European descent born on the island. He was sent to school at Launceston Grammar School in Tasmania and Trinity Grammar School in Sydney. Summary
1944-1946 – Teacher of mathematics and chemistry, Geelong Grammar School, Victoria.
1947-1948 – Lecturer in chemistry, University of Sydney.
1948-1951 – Scientific Officer, Woomera Rocket Range and Imperial College, London. 1952-1983 – Principal Research Scientist, Aeronautical Research Laboratories, Melbourne, (now part of the Defence Science and Technology Organisation).
1981-1982 – Scientific Adviser (Energy) to the Victorian State Parliament. Warren worked at what are now the Defence Science and Technology Organisation"s Aeronautical Research Laboratories in Melbourne from 1952 to 1983, rising to the level of Principal Research Scientist.
While there, he came up with the idea for the cockpit voice recorder while investigating a crash of the world"s first commercial jet airliner, the Comet, in 1953, after seeing a miniature voice recorder at a trade show.
"If a businessman had been using one of these in the plane and we could find it in the wreckage and we played it back, we"d say, "We know what caused this."", Warren later recalled. "Any sounds that were relevant to what was going on would be recorded and you could take them from the wreckage." While devices had been previously used to record certain flight parameters, they did not include voice recording, and were not reusable, and therefore were not practical for routine commercial flights. Warren"s invention, which relied on magnetic recording media, allowed easy erasing and re-recording, which made it practical for routine line service.
Warren"s concept of cockpit voice recording added a new dimension to instrument data in flight recorders, and has proved extremely valuable for accident investigation.
Interestingly, some accidents where the CVR played a prominent role were solved not by the crew"s recorded voices, but by other sounds incidentally recorded on the CVR, which provided a vital clue to the accident cause.