A little further back on the thread Rev Star pased I question I have had forming. When the CDTI is put in the cockpit it takes x amount of real estate, then somebody puts in an ACARS terminal, and a GPS or two, then the moving map display, then the xxx. It doesn't take long for somebody to say (a) shouldn't we put them together because there is only a finite amount of cockpit realestate (except in 747s)and (b) what are the crew going to do with all these gee whiz boxes, displays, etc.
Is anyone working on this stuff?
As far as the ELT stuff goes just had a little visit with a Civil Air Patrol ground search/rescue guy who has been hunting ELTs (the VHF 121.5 variety) for 20 or so years and says the new UHF FM beacons are great. They send a data burst every minute or so that identifies who is sending and if there is a link to the navigation system (or an attached GPS card) tells everyone where it thinks it is. Makes it much easier to find and also is more easily heard with orders of magnitude greater position accuracy by the satellites, let alone the ground pounders with hand held receivers. If people can be persuaded to install them and use them it will save more than a few lives, including the ones of the people that go and search for you when you crash.