Modern forms of FDR and CVR implementations

[gums]

@A33 Seems to me that we could have a cheap EEPROM that would record CVR stuff for hours with its own battery. We need to capture the beginning as well as the end of an accident.

@ Doze Apparently the 370 jet had an Inmarsat doofer, but the buffers were empty, as ACARS had stopped and maybe nav position. So I offer the same solution as above. My handheld GPS works for 8 or 10 hours and something like that could have provided position to the satellite. The info packet could be less than 256 bytes every 10 minutes.

Gotta think this thru, but seems like we could have an inexpensive solution to avoid the 447 and now the 370 scenario.

[ionagh]

the 370 jet had an Inmarsat doofer, but the buffers were empty

The simplest solution would be to integrate a complete GPS 'engine' into the satcom unit. Give it a dedicated back up battery and the whole thing becomes 100% autonomous. Granted that GPS altitude maybe be questionable but at least you know where it is. You could always alternate GPS with ACARS when there is something to transmit.

[grounded27]

For a start both "black boxes" should be redundant having both FDR and CVR capability. That would double the odds of finding them and having readable data. Nowadays electronics are so small that the space and weight taken would be minimal. I think this is obvious.

All aircraft I have dealt with recently have a FDR and a CVR/FDR combo unit instaled, FDR is redundant CVR is not.