David Warren (inventor)

Early life

David Warren was born on Groote Eylandt, an island off the coast of the Northern Territory. 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.

His father died in a 1934 Bass Strait air crash.

He earned a Bachelor of Science degree with Honours from the University of Sydney, a PhD in fuels and energy from Imperial College London, a Diploma of Imperial College, and a Diploma of Education from the University of Melbourne.

Career

Summary

• 1944–46 – Teacher of mathematics and chemistry, Geelong Grammar School, Victoria.
• 1947–48 – Lecturer in chemistry, University of Sydney.
• 1948–51 – Scientific Officer, Woomera Rocket Range and Imperial College, London.
• 1952–83 – Principal Research Scientist, Aeronautical Research Laboratories, Melbourne, (now part of the Defence Science and Technology Organisation).
• 1981–82 – 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.
(See also Flight recorder History.)

Committees, honours, awards and recognition

Committees

• Chairman of the Combustion Institute (Aust & NZ Section) for 25 years (1958–83)
• Committee member, Chemical Society
• Committee member, the Institute of Fuel
• Committee member, the Australian Institute of Energy
• Morris Minor Car Club of Victoria, founding chairman and patron for 25 years (1977–2002)

Awards and Honours

• FAIE – Fellow of the Australian Institute of Energy
• The Australian Institute of Energy Medal (1999)
• Hartnett Medal of the Royal Society of the Arts (2000)
• Centenary Medal (2001)
• Lawrence Hargrave Award of the Royal Aeronautical Society (2001)
• Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) (2002)
• ICAO Edward Warner Award (2016)

Recognition

In November 2008, Qantas named one of their Airbus A380s after Warren in honour of his services to aviation.

Warren died 19 July 2010, at age 85, in Melbourne. He was buried in a casket bearing the label "Flight Recorder Inventor; Do Not Open".

In June 2012, the ACT Government named a road, David Warren Road, in the suburb of Hume.

David Warren was inducted into the Australian Aviation Hall of Fame on 16 November 2013.

On 25 March 2014, the Defence Science and Technology Organisation renamed their Canberra headquarters the "David Warren Building".