Pinger life
I can't believe that the pinger output is so poor. Instead of sending out lots of weak signals what's clearly needed is a smaller number of really loud signals per hour.
That would have no effect on battery life which is a function of power output and duty cycle. In fact it might extend it. A previous post about 'slower' pings reducing the search area can't be right given that ships travel quite slowly. In any event a very loud ping could be located not be sailing right over it but by triangulation.
Given that most of the planet is covered by water it's likely that planes will come down in it from time to time. Why then are pingers so weak?