When did the FDR "box" go from black to orange?

[sassnetguy50]

When did it become popular for the "black box" flight data recorder to be painted orange instead of black?  Was it caused by common sense or an IACO regulation or ?

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

What makes you think they were ever black?

[Pat Riot]

Not sure about in aviation but Event Recorders on trains (that I have seen) were all orange. Yet they are called “black boxes”. Odd. 

[Subdeacon Joe]

For what it's worth:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_recorder

 

Terminology[edit]

 

GEE airborne equipment, with the R1355 receiver on the left and the Indicator Unit Type 62A "black box" on the right.

The term "black box" was a World War II British phrase, originating with the development of radio, radar, and electronic navigational aids in British and Allied combat aircraft. These often-secret electronic devices were literally encased in non-reflective black boxes or housings.  The earliest identified reference to "black boxes" occurs in a May 1945 Flight article, "Radar for Airlines", describing the application of wartime RAF radar and navigational aids to civilian aircraft: "The stowage of the 'black boxes' and, even more important, the detrimental effect on performance of external aerials, still remain as a radio and radar problem."^[23] (The term "black box" is used with a different meaning in science and engineering, for a system described by its inputs and outputs, with no information about its working.)

Magnetic tape and wire voice recorders had been tested on RAF and USAAF bombers by 1943 thus adding to the assemblage of fielded and experimental electronic devices employed on Allied aircraft.  As early as 1944 aviation writers envisioned use of these recording devices on commercial aircraft to aid incident investigations.^[24] When modern flight recorders were proposed to the British Aeronautical Research Council in 1958, the term "black box" was in colloquial use by experts.^[25]

By 1967 when flight recorders were mandated by leading aviation countries, the expression had found its way into general use: "These so-called 'black boxes' are, in fact, of fluorescent flame-orange in colour."^[26] The formal names of the devices are flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder. The recorders must be housed in boxes that are bright orange in color to make them more visually conspicuous in the debris after an accident.^[27]

[Utah Bob #35998]

I was trying to recall why Roosevelt had a box. Maybe on his desk? To keep cigarettes in? And why would he want it orange? 
Then I read the post. Probably should have done that first. 

[Blackwater 53393]

Mornin’, UB!  Glad yer back!!

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

I've never seen one that wasn't orange. I was always amused by the term black box, but never bothered to explore its origins.

[Trailrider #896]

Basically refers to the interior workings, which are kept more-or-less secret.

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

All the commercial flight recorders I've seen are orange with white stripes. 

They also have their own GPS locator. 

OLG