Why Can't the Black Box Transmit Live Data?

[Ken Russell]

If diagnostic data can be transmitted from a plane in flight then why not the data stored in the black box :confused:

We spend a huge amount searching for black boxes especially those in the ocean, so a live transmission system could be cost effective :rolleyes:

Rusty

[ray cosmic]

well for one: there's more data recorded in the flight data and voice recorders then there is being transmitted in the occasional maintenance ACARS message.
Maybe if bandwidth is unlimited and services free, it is no problem. As long as that's not the case, it is out of reach. Just think of how mana flights are operated worldwide at this very moment; then you can figure how much data this is generating. By the way; not all aircraft have a datalink system.

[Dysag]

An Airbus guy once told me that one of their planes takes off or lands somewhere in the world every 4 seconds.

That probably means once every second for the all-manufacturers fleet.

[AltFlaps]

I've worked with FDR data, and the stream is very large.

The new digital recorders log a huge number of parameters ...

[makrider]

Due to the limitation of the actual transmit technology it's very difficult to pack, download and grant burst of data over satellite.

In special way you need to consider that the only way to use is the standard satellite link and this is absolutely not granted in case of heavy rain or wheater condition similar to the AF447 event. Furthermore this not grant 100% that the data received are fully correct and/or whitout partial corruption.

Mak

[Jofm5]

Its not really my place to say this but please ensure you use the search function before starting new threads in the professional pilots sections otherwise it will be inevitable us non professional pilots will be one day will have access restricted to these forums.

A more in depth discussion of your question about live FDR transmission was discussed a few weeks ago in the thread http://www.pprune.org/tech-log/376509-black-boxes-fdrs.html

[Ken Russell]

Thanks for that. I wasn't aware of the previous thread and as you rightly point out I should have searched first :ugh: