David Warren | 'Black box' inventor, 85

David Warren, 85, an Australian scientist who invented the "black box" flight data recorder, has died, Australian defense officials said Wednesday.

Mr. Warren, who died Monday, came up with the idea for the cockpit voice recorder after investigating the crash of the world's first commercial jet airliner, the Comet, in 1953, the Defense Department said in a statement. He believed it would be helpful for airline accident investigators to have a recording of voices in the cockpit.

He designed and constructed a prototype in 1956, but it took years before officials understood just how valuable the device could be and began installing them in commercial airlines worldwide.

Mr. Warren was born in 1925 in a remote part of northeast Australia. In 1934, his father was killed in a plane crash in Australia.

He was the principal research scientist at the Defense Science and Technology Organization's Aeronautical Research Laboratories in Melbourne from 1952 to 1983.

"Dr. Warren's flight data recorder has made an invaluable contribution to safety in world aviation," the Australian defense department said in a statement. - AP