Dear PJ2,
regarding your first post:
While I don't necessarily disagree with your general position that the cost of the implementation of constant and complete FDR / CVR data transmission might be spent as well on expanded/more intensive pilot training, I would like however, to respectfully point out, that the occasions on which the FDR/CVR could not be retrieved for varying reasons are not as singular as you think or suggest.
There have been several airline aircraft losses (albeit not all of them within your stated 30 year time frame) where the FDR/CVR boxes could not be retrieved or the recorded information was not recoverable.
These aircraft losses have ocurred both over water and land:
Pan Am Flight 708 - crashed on approach to Berlin Tegel airport in 1966,
( FDR/CVR were not returned by soviet union military )
Pan Am Flight 816 - impacted water after take-off from Papeete in 1973
( FDR/CVR believed to have sunken to a depth of 700m )
Korean Airlines Flight 007 - shot down by soviet air force in 1983
( FDR/CVR recovered by soviet union,handed over in the early 90s)
Eastern Air Lines Flight 980 - impacted Mount Illimani,Bolivia in 1985
( FDR/CVR not recovered due to the inaccessibilty of the site where the aircraft impacted the mountain)
These are a few that come to mind and I would not be surprised if there were more.Of course the geopolitical landscape has changed with the end of the cold war,however I would not rule out that another aircraft might be lost over a war zone or a very unstable country where the recovery of the FDR/CVR is not possible for political and/or security reasons.
The same applies to the other reasons, those of site inaccessibilty due to terrain or depth.While I agree that technology has advanced , I still believe there are areas where nature will make it extremely difficult, if not impossible to access (or for that matter, even locate) the FDR/CVR,even with modern technology.
With todays competition in the airline business and the resulting constant cost reduction /minimizing that is taking a high priority within many airlines, I am not too optimistic about the quick implementation of either constant data uplink or more pilot training.
If you ask me,data link is more likely to be introduced in the future than expanded pilot training, which would be a recurring , most likely too expensive ( from the cost cutting department's point of view) cost factor.
Kind regards,
Vee1.rotate