The black boxes are probably about 10,000 feet down in that area, so it will be drones doing the searching. It is an area of strong winds and fast currents, so finding debris won’t shrink the search area very much.
]]>Which is why I made the comment about how even if they have a system for pinging GPS data, it’s unlikely that airlines like Malaysia Air would pay to activate it.
]]>Without more data, the reason may never be found. At this point all explanations fall under the heading of ‘wild ass guesses’, not informed commentary.
Shirt, back in the 1960s, if one of the plane I flew on went down, the pre-GPS equivalent used would have been available, as it was recorded on reel–to-reel magnetic tape, along with other information. The tapes were 4-track, and one of the tracks was dedicated to location information. The data could be collected the same way ‘way points’ are saved on personal GPS units. The problem would be the system to release them .
They want a complicated system. A simpler system that pinged every 10 minutes would be a big improvement over the current system of once an hour, Badtux. The ‘black boxes’ would still be the main repository, but there needs to be a system that reduces the search area for the flight data recorders. If it isn’t a cheap and easy fix, the smaller airlines won’t do it.
]]>Jon Stewart is having a field day/week! 😆
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