Yesterday (Wednesday, March 8) marked the three-year anniversary of
one of the most high-profile aviation mysteries of all time - the
disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
While speculation has been rife, no concrete evidence has ever been
able to shed a light on exactly what happened, something that the
British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) say shouldn’t be
possible in modern day aviation.
The
multinational search for the aircraft and its data recorders was the
largest and most expensive in aviation history.
Despite today’s technology, it can take a long time to recover the
part of the aircraft equipment which holds all the vital information
- the black boxes - or, in the case of MH370, they may not be found
at all. Flight MH370 brought more attention to the limitations of
black boxes, namely the limited data storage and finite battery life
and signal distance of the ULBs attached to them.
BALPA has renewed its calls for better technology to aid the search
of missing aircraft, something it says will not only help give
answers to the families of victims, but will also give the aviation
industry information to ensure safety is improved.
The
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) have already
announced that as of 2021 aircraft must have technology installed
that transmit their position more regularly and do so even more
frequently when they are in distress.
However, BALPA says retro-fitting of older aircraft should also be
considered.
BALPA Flight Safety Specialist,
Steve Landells,
said, “We don’t believe it should be possible, in this day and age,
to lose an aircraft. The announcement from ICAO is welcome but if
these systems are only fitted on new aircraft it will be many years
before the majority of planes will have this technology.
“Whilst ICAO have provided a small incentive to operators to
retro-fit a distress tracking system BALPA believes that there
should be a mandatory system in place that will allow the exact
location of any aircraft experiencing an emergency to be known.
Thankfully, accidents are very rare, but black boxes sinking to the
bottom of the sea with the airframe delays potentially life-saving
recommendations, and leaves the families waiting on the answers they
so desperately need.” |