A flight recorder, otherwise called a black box, was a device placed on starships to keep track of onboard happenings, giving a documented history of the ship's operations and the information it collected. In 8 ABY, the recordings recovered from the FarStar's flight recorder were crucial in concluding that Captain Kaiya Adrimetrum had been targeted in an assassination attempt orchestrated by the Wraith.
Starships used for scouting tasks were usually equipped with black boxes. Because scout vessels frequently made "blind jumps"—hyperspace jumps into uncharted space—and often became disoriented, black boxes were used to record jump data, which made it possible for the starship to find its way back.