I don’t think CCD camera technology is up to it.
The latest and greatest super dynamic cameras would be next to useless in the fast changing background lighting involved with aircraft. You would need to go with a B&W camera and infa red light source to guarantee usability in day and night.
If you had an engine fire all you might see on a the camera is a white screen as the light intensity may be to great for it to handle.
No camera to the best of my knowledge is designed to operate in the temperature range involved with flying at altitude.
Heating of the camera housing would be required to remove condensation and ice as applicable. Must camera housings used in car parks etc are heated as dew collects in them throughout the night.
The vibration levels may preclude decent lenses being placed to zoom in as the movement of the camera may be too great. The best lens for this application would be a 9mm 1/3” format, but you need to position the camera correctly to take advantage of it.
More than likely would need to run fiber optic cable to the avionics bay as copper video cable would pick too much interference.
Passengers are scared enough about flying at the moment without getting an outside view of the plan crashing (controlled via a landing or otherwise) so I think it would have little passenger appeal.
I suspect the first use of CCTV cameras on aircraft will be with cockpit access security system bringing up a view of the person on the other side of the door on the systems screens prior to entry, or to record the cockpit actions of the crew on a digital FDR. CCTV cameras are already used as a training aid in flight simulators taking cockpit view and audio for debriefing of students after a ride.
Recording of video is another matter, it very high bandwidth, current digital recorders lack the ability to record images in the decent frame rate and resolution to be of any use. Transmission of video over current ACARS/satellite technology would not be possible, a few frames perhaps but not video.
I cannot see maintenance changing a video tape each time the aircraft is positioned for a new sector. How to you keep track of the tapes, who hold onto them, what measures do you put in place to say the tape/images have not been tampered with.
ALAPA would not like this …..
