Re:An airline that has made sure its airplanes won't disappear
by toomuchtodo on Monday January 05, 2015 @12:13PM
(#8839793)
The money would probably be better spent speeding up ADS-B transmitter installations, as well as incentive payments to Iridium to get their new satellites with ADS-B receivers into orbit. No point in reinventing the wheel.
Re:An airline that has made sure its airplanes won't disappear
by brandon272 on Monday January 05, 2015 @12:22PM
(#8839859)
I'm sure it's something that will be worked out in time. Perhaps the manufacturers themselves will be more interested in rolling out tracking technology in new aircraft versus airlines retrofitting existing planes.
But it's not an industry that responds quickly due to media hysteria surrounding rare and isolated incidents, that's for sure.
Re:An airline that has made sure its airplanes won't disappear
by cpncrunch on Monday January 05, 2015 @02:36PM
(#8840624)
This is already being done, by Aireon.
Re:An airline that has made sure its airplanes won't disappear
by toomuchtodo on Monday January 05, 2015 @02:53PM
(#8840722)
Right, which is a subsidiary of Iridium:
Re:An airline that has made sure its airplanes won't disappear
by JoeAltmaier on Monday January 05, 2015 @12:13PM
(#8839794)
And yet... and yet, the pilots I know who fly big jets brought their own GPS units into the cockpit decades before 'reliable tested' versions were certified. And used them. Because they were helpful, but not necessary.
Re:An airline that has made sure its airplanes won't disappear
by brandon272 on Monday January 05, 2015 @12:19PM
(#8839840)
And they are free to do so because the GPS units pose no risk to the aircraft, just as I use my iPad or smartphone on a plane.
Once you start talking about tracking systems that are tied into the plane's avionics in order to deliver information about the aircraft itself, that's another story.
When you start tying in transmitters to the aircraft's existing avionics, the need for a redundant, extremely reliable, tested and fault-free system is even greater. An absolute must.
That's where the big expense comes in. And I believe that's what passengers have come to expect. Personally, I'd rather fly on an airliner without a satellite tracking system than fly with one that hasn't been subjected to the same testing and certification standards as the rest of the plane's equipment.
The cost is the prohibitive factor. I can imagine that Delta, for instance, has no interest in a $90M charge to retrofit their aircraft with a system that they will probably never use.