Originally Posted by
gums
A second consideration is the power supply. This was shown in the Swiss Air crash. The electrical failures due to the fire resulted in the failure of the ACARS, CVR and FDR.
It seems that the FAA have already mandated independent battery supplies capable of supplying 10 minutes of power - here's an example:
L-3 Aviation Recorders
Finally, offline storage, like Carbonite, et al, seems a good idea. At least the investigators would have "something" to look at and analyze.
Now that is something I suspect would be a non-starter technically, even putting the myriad security problems to one side. Not due to lack of storage capability, but the sheer amount of data needing to be transmitted (i.e how many transport-category aircraft are aloft at any one time even over the US, let alone globally?).
Saw this with AF447, huh?
Interestingly, there's a quote in the Guardian article on the subject of MH370 (Inmarsat and the UK AAIB seem to have worked out a relatively accurate search area as of today).
McLaughlin told CNN that there was no further analysis possible of the data. "Sadly this is the limit. There's no global decision even after the Air France loss [in June 2009, where it took two years to recover the plane from the sea] to make direction and distance reporting compulsory.
Flight MH370: how Inmarsat homed in on missing Malaysia Airlines' plane | World news | The Guardian
So it is the lack of directional and distance information that has made things difficult and they're still trying to get it mandated.
So with 370, we may have a high-quality, two hour recording of wind noise and such, and then "thump". That's if the recorder was still running.
Well, you say that - but there are a couple of things I'd consider. Firstly, it wouldn't just be wind noise. Presuming that the crew were incapacitated, the recording would still contain the sounds of the aircraft's controls and systems as they followed their flight program. It might give some clue as to how it ended up so far off course.
Secondly, I'm thinking of the Helios crash where everyone on board was incapacitated by hypoxia. The CVR in that case showed that a member of the cabin crew who was training to be flight crew actually regained consciousness and tried to rescue the flight. Unfortunately he regained consciousness too late and the aircraft ran out of fuel.
Fer chrissakes, my wife's iPad can run for 8 or 10 hours easily.
Yeah, but that runs off the kind of consumer-grade lithium-ion battery that is making a lot of people a bit nervous when used in conjunction with aircraft!
