Cost/Benefit Study of CVR and FDR
Has it been done? Airliners carry these boxes, associated structure and wiring, and maintenance costs for their entire lives. How many airplanes and lives have been saved by data from the CVR or FDR? Knowing why an airliner crashed may be comforting, but is it worth the cost?
Taking AF447 as an example, will it in the end have been worth the cost if the recorders are retrieved? How much more would it be worth to assure the next crash into the water could be pinpointed in near real time?
GB