Another Air Crash? What is the Airline Industry Doing?

[fountainhall]

So now it's an Egypt Air A320 from Paris to Cairo that has gone off radar whilst crossing the Mediterranean about 3 hours ago. Desperately sad for the relatives and loved ones of the passengers and crew, and yet the question must again be asked - why? No, not why it seems to have crashed. Why, 9 years after Adam Air crashed into the sea off Sulawesi, 7 years after Air France Flight 447 disappeared in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, 2 years after Malaysia 370 disappeared off the map - and the latest news from Australia is that the wreckage will probably never be found, and 18 months since the Air Asia crash into the sea off Indonesia, the Airline Industry has still done nothing about real-time tracking of instrument read-outs and still depend on archaic so-called black boxes that are frequently damaged, only give off sonar signals for one month and only record the final 30 minutes of cockpit voice communications. This loop-tape system is archaic and should have been replaced with far more modern technology many decades ago.

Real-time tracking is not that complicated. After all, real-time data on engine performance on most aircraft is routinely transmitted back to base. Why not other relevant information from cockpit voice recorders and flight controls? Awash in increased profits due to the crash of the oil price, the airlines no longer seem to care. As an IATA study group found at the end of 2014, some airlines don't want other governments to know exactly where their aircraft are (!) whilst others just don't want to spend tens of thousands of dollars per place to install the required equipment. This latest crash will change no airline's mind! It's a disgrace!

[goji]

I agree. What are they playing at ?
If I gaffer taped my Android phone to the roof of the plane, it would be capable of continuously logging the route via GPS. All that's needed is an additional transmit function, which cannot be switched off by the pilot.
If an Android satellite phone exists, it's probably capable of doing the job.

I should think a professional system should be capable of being rolled out within 12 months. Set up 2 or 3 tracking centres and require all planes to transmit their GPS location to one of them every 5 seconds or so.

{Phase 2 could involve a sneaky little upgrade to automatic air traffic control, which would permit all the French air traffic controllers to be sacked. Then they can no longer inconvenience travellers by striking.]