IMHO money should be spent on the decades-old detachable ELTs rather than
lower frequency pingers on the FDR if you can only do one thing. We are all
looking something going BEEP-BEEP with our ears in an area nearly the size of
Australia right now. The 406 MHz signal wouldn't find the needle, but it would
find the haystack
Absolutely! Something is very wrong that in this age of satellites, cpdlc, etc, we still lose track of airplanes. What if there had been survivors from this crash or AF? They'd have perished waiting for rescue. What if there was a aircraft issue or a handling/maint issue that leaves other aircraft in danger. We need those black boxes! We sent rovers to deliberately crash on mars and survive. Surely we can build a better ELT that is cheap, rugged and effective and spares us all the time, effort, money and heartbreak running around blindly.