Originally Posted by
Airbubba
I
Is it likely as the ABC News article suggests that significant data may be recovered from the Boeing servers back home from the ONS? Even twenty years ago I was surprised how much operational and maintenance information was spit out in the clear over VHF ACARS by so-called modern airliners. Engine readings, fluid levels, EFIS alerts, crew lists with employee numbers (and in some cases SSN's
) plus the usual mundane text messages to call the chief pilot's office on arrival.
Even if Lion Air didn't buy the upgraded subscription to Boeing's inflight data services, would some of the information be transmitted anyway?
The operator needs to sign up for the service - the hardware is baseline on the aircraft, but not the download service. Boeing (and GE/CFM) will store the data, but only if it gets sent -and that costs money. And the more data is sent out, the more it costs - shortly after the EIS of the 747-8, we started getting complains that we were sending out too much engine health data and it was costing too much for the data transmission services. So when we revised the EHM software we reduced the baseline reports.
Many operators only do downloads when they are at a suitably equipped (e.g. wifi) airport.
It's simply a matter of what Lion Air has signed up for (which I can't speak to - I honestly have no idea).