Interesting article on the technology of today's "black boxes".......

http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/arch...order?page=all

the article is longer than my attention span. how many words did that guy get paid to generate. however,
1. that' s a huge amount of data
2. anyone can intercept it.

i think it a non starter.

1. 25-64Mbps and 100GB/day - relatively trivial
2. Encryption

The real issue with any of these "the technology exists today to solve this..." stories is that the planes were built in the '80s/'90s/'00s. Yes, new planes could be built with this. And some are. But spending millions/billions retrofitting every aircraft in the world, every time a "better" technology comes along isn't realistic.

(it's like asking why my '98 Honda doesn't have 10 airbags when base Hyundais have them today - "the technology is available").

Add that to the fact that it's still been decades since there was a crash with an unknown cause where the boxes weren't found/used.

I think the technology will eventually make it to planes - phased in with new models over several decades. But a mass retrofit just doesn't seem to have an economic justification.

Yeah - it did take a whopping 6-8 minutes to read. Maybe the author can re-cast his findings in pop-up book form for you.

Thanks - interesting article, handspring088!

Boeing, Airbus at odds over black boxes that eject

http://news.yahoo.com/boeing-airbus-...123705123.html
"WASHINGTON (AP) � The world's two largest commercial aircraft manufacturers are at odds over equipping airliners with black boxes that eject in the event of a crash, making them easier to find."

Aren't they day-glo orange, not black?

There are 10 million commercial aviation flights every year, all of which are supposed to upload data to a satellite every day?

There are more than one billion vehicles in the world, 253 million cars and trucks in the US alone, and the day is not far off when many / most will be online -- getting directions, uploading trip data, sending mechanical diagnostics to the manufacturer, etc. The data load from commercial aviation will be a comparative pittance. All that stands in the way is the airlines' reluctance to invest.

Oranges and kumquats.

Aircraft need a SATELLITE connection, and then the airlines will need massive pentabyte drives to store all that information, probably for a long time (to ensure against lawsuit requests for data). You do understand airlines are businesses, right? They are already the one of the most taxed businesses in the world, and you want to add more billions to their costs for this system? If it is so critical let the government fund it.