Disabling Aircraft Transponders
Following the mystery of the missing Malaysian aircraft I would like to know the following:
1) Why is it possible to disable equipment such as transponders when they provide such vital information in the event of a crash? Is there a genuine technical reason for this to be conducted?
2) Why is no alarm sent to ATC to inform them that the equipment has been disabled either purposefully or accidentally which would then allow emergency procedures to be implemented?
3) Given the possibility to make telephone calls and use the internet in-flight why isn't the position of aircraft and voice cockpit recordings automatically sent and recorded to a land based server for later retrieval if required?
All this to a layman appears basic and common sense but whenever a crash occurs everything seems to rely on finding the black boxes.
Last edited by Bazza06; 18th Mar 2014 at 16:49.