slats11,
This:
that we repeatedly have the following situation:
Is exactly the problem with the pro-"lets throw more money at un-necessary additional tracking mechanisms" brigade ....
These scenarios that occur "repeatedly" according to you and your colleagues, are infact rare.
How may flights have occurred globally over the last decade ? How many flights encountered a scenario where additional tracking would have helped ?
Exactly. We're talking statistically insignificant numbers here. We're talking about a minute proportion of rare events that are rare in themselves (i.e. "untraceable" crashes in a world where aviation is the safest mode of transport and therefore any sort of crash is in itself a rare event already... let alone an "untraceable" one).
So please guys, give it a rest with the stupid tracking hamsterwheel. Or at least if you want to continue chattering about it, start a new thread elsewhere on PPRuNe because the subject of tracking is now 100% irrelevant in the case of Air Asia.