Not fully understanding the complexities of the subject, probably plays a major part, and I doubt that there are many (or any) journalists qualified and experienced to handle the subject competently and in-depth.

MV Alucia has arrived in the Pacific anchorage of the Panama Canal this morning, 2/28/2011.
Live Ships Map - AIS - Vessel Traffic and Positions
Select vessel name for track information.

Quote from JD-EE:
...I still have a LONG time fascination with the concept of flying and the men who can do it safely and well.

Only the fairer sex could get away with that one, Joanne. ;)

Gender

With respect, and not wishing to play the pedantic p---k, I will say without equivocation the absolute winner in the Bearfoil best Captain Sweepstakes is a.........Lady.

She is Tall, Blonde, and attractive. She is consummately professional, and tolerates no nonsense within a fuselage length of her chair. Those who have flown with her know whereof I speak. In pursuit of some long forgotten certificate, it was my pleasure to be one of her students. She was younger, lower time, and a girl. How could she have the best chops in the front?? She did, and she does.

That'll teach me.

bear

Indeed, there a lot of good woman pilots. I've had a few on flights I have taken and they managed to put the plane down quite neatly. And they were a little more dignified with their takeoff gyrations required by local rules than the men at the same airport.

But, gee, give a lady (well, woman) a break. I don't find them nearly as interesting as the men. (I hear women, with a diaper, can pull more Gs than male fighter pilots. They're still "ho-hum" to me.)

{^_-}

I am most pleased the discussion has turned to pilots and pilotage.

Absent an offense by Aliens, 447 was lost due to fully understandable events. I venture to say the answers have been broached here, and most likely with great repetition. Dollars to dimes it involved more than a mere hiccup. Human error. Mechanical?? Who built what?? Marc DuBois. Captain DuBois. He and two brothers bear the brunt of suspicion, for that is the way. I doubt he would have it any other way. The only thing certain before the Alucia begins, is that there lurks in aviation a virtual certainty that there will be Death. It is a Human endeavour, Flight.

Another site for monitoring Alucia
 

I found this website to be a little more helpful for tracking the Alucia because it shows the last known position even if it is several days old. You do have to register (free) to see some of the data though.

Vessel details ALUCIA (other type of ship) MMSI: 356352000 IMO: 7347823 vessel info and position - Digital-Seas.com

It appears to have made it through the canal.

I'm afraid not. 2011-03-02 07:33z 8.91774N 79.5127W and at anchor in the Pacific Anchorage. Would seem that the vessel hasn't a confirmed booking and will pass through at the Canal Authority's convenience.

EDIT :: There are currently scheduling delays for the canal transit due to a 7 year US$5.25 billion canal expansion program which includes additional locks, widening and deepening.

Keep the updates coming regarding the search progress and hopefully all other banter can be put on hold for now.

As of right now (00:30z Alucia is still at the anchorage off Balboa awaiting a slot through the Panama Canal. Since none of us has been able to pick her up on AIS since she left Seattle, aside from a quick glimpse when she passed the US/Mexico border, we can assume that, if she has an AIS satellite transmitter (as the previous search ships had and used), she's not been using it.

For those of us who would like to follow the search efforts, we will have to wait and see whether the Alucia shows up on the AIS services that pick up satellite transmissions when she arrives/leaves Recife and is en-route to the search area. We'll know soon enough.

Hello,

First post for me but I am following af447 threads from the beginning.

ALUCIA will go through the channel tomorrow:
see http://www.pancanal.com/evtms-rpts/dis-05.pdf

Best regards

Thank you Dehaene. That is good news.:ok:
I was amazed it took so long to get scheduled for the transit.

AIS system
 

What is AIS:
The UN-organisation, IMO, in its International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) requires AIS to be fitted aboard international voyaging ships with gross tonnage (GT) of 300 or more tons, and all passenger ships regardless of size. AIS regularly transmits data on VHF in order to avoid collisions with other ships. It is estimated that more than 40,000 ships currently carry AIS class A equipment. In 2007 (wikipedia), the new Class B AIS standard was introduced which enabled a new generation of low cost AIS transceivers. This has triggered multiple additional national mandates from Singapore, China, Turkey and North America affecting hundreds of thousands of more vessels. The system is partly developed in Sweden and uses the STDMA protocol invented by Håkan Lans.
Regards

The Automatic Identification System (AIS)
 

I believe you may have misinterpreted Broadreach's post.

• Broadreach has particularly been seeking AIS position reporting through satellite data acquisition.
• Broadreach provided me with the twice daily positions of the "Seabed Worker" and the "Anne Candies" during the Phase 3 search.
• Most administrations require that ships report their positions twice daily, and those same reports are acquired by Lloyds Intelligence.
• Depending on a the web based provider's access to AIS data obtained by local terrestrial receiving stations, users of those web based products will be able to see plots of ships within range of each station.
• Real-time satellite data packages are available as a small clip-on to the existing terrestrial packages, and can be programed to supply data as required to a specified end-user, e.g. continuously, or periodically via Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) satellites.

Generally, the transmission of the marine Automatic Identification System data on both of the marine VHF channels 87B (161.975 MHz) and 88B (162.025 MHz is mandatory for vessels of 300 gross registered tons and over. Exceptions are notably for naval vessels, and at the master's discretion, e.g. when the transmission of positional information may lead to the vessel being intercepted by pirates.

Note :: The designed for use of AIS is as a collision avoidance system, whereby shipboard plotters display the relevant position, track, speed and rate of turn data, along with vessel identification and size of those vessels within VHF range of their ship. In other words it is the marine version of aeronautical secondary radar, but instead of being land-based, is ship-based - TCAS style.

This Wikipedia article is comprehensive and up to date.

That is correct. Broadreach understands AIS in much greater detail than I presently do.:O
He has been involved in setting up these systems in a number of ports.

"Alucia" - update
 

The vessel left the Panama Pacific Anchorage at 2011-03-05 2100z to commence her northbound transit of the Panama Canal. At 2115z - appears to be waiting for a pilot just to the west of her original anchorage, which has been taken by a cruise ship, the "Island Princess".

Panama Canal
 

In fact, the canal is currently used for southbound ships.
The pipe must be emptied before northbound can start again.
We have to wait for about 5 boats i.e. 2 hours.

POI

An interesting tidbit: As Alucia heads into the Atlantic from the Pacific, she will be heading Westerly. And drop two meters, Net.

They have already started the Northbound with the "Whitney Bay" and "Alucia" at 2230z.

Miraflores west lock is being used for northbound traffic.

Yes, it seems that they now use both ways simultaneously.

Alicia just appeared on Miraflores Locks WebCam Multimedia - PanCanal.com