About one
month after
an Airbus
A330
mysteriously
crashed
into the
Atlantic
Ocean, the
aircraft
maker has
begun a
study to
figure out
ways to
better
recover real
time flight
data.
The study
will include
a look at
"extended
data
transmission
for
commercial
airliners,
so that in
the event of
accidents,
critical
flight
information
can still be
recovered
and released
to the
investigating
authorities,"
Airbus said.
Airbus
acknowledged
that
retrieving
an
aircraft's
black boxes
is a "major
challenge
for the
entire
aviation
community."
At
present,
there is no
way to
transmit the
data from
the black
boxes to the
ground in
real time.
Aircraft do
contain an
ACARS, or
aircraft
communications
addressing
and
reporting
system,
which allow
maintenance
data to be
transmitted.
But the
bandwidth
allocated
for the
ACARS is too
low to
transmit
data from
the flight
recorders.
Airbus
notes that
"presently,
the only
possible
means to
retrieve
information
from the
(black
boxes) is to
process them
on ground
with very
specific
ground
tools." The
boxes do not
transmit
real time
information
to the
aircraft
manufacturer,
as that
"responsibility
is managed
and
controlled
by the
investigation
authorities,"
Airbus says.
Black
boxes are
not made by
either
Boeing or
Airbus --
though the
manufacturers
do need to
integrate
the
technology
with the
rest of the
airplane.
"Boeing
supports
technology
and research
that helps
enhance the
overall
safety of
the global
air
transportation
system,"
Boeing
spokeswoman
Sandy Angers
said Monday.
"Those
efforts
include
studying
possible
enhancements
to the
survivability
and
accessibility
of the black
boxes.
What's
critical is
that all
aviation
stakeholders
- operators,
regulators
and
manufacturers
- must work
together to
determine
the
feasibility
and
practicality
of those
solutions."
Airbus
says its
study will
involve
industrial
partners,
research
institutions
and
international
authorities
on
airworthiness
and
investigations.
Head of
Airbus
engineering
Patrick
Gavin and
head of
customer
services
Charles
Champion
will lead
it.
"Gathering
information
from
accidents is
vitally
important to
further
improve the
safety of
flying,"
Airbus CEO
Tom Enders
said in a
statement.
"Various
technical
means for
reinforcing
flight data
recovery and
data
transmission
to ground
centers are
principally
available.
We will now
study
different
options for
viable
commercial
solutions,
including
those where
our
experience
with
real-time
data
transmission
from our own
test
aircraft
could
support the
further
development
of such
solutions."
Air
France
Flight 447's
black boxes,
which
comprise the
digital
flight data
recorder and
the cockpit
voice
recorders,
still have
not been
found. When
French
authorities
released an
interim
report
last week on
known facts
from the
crash, which
killed 228
people in
June, they
cautioned
that it is
difficult to
really know
what
happened
without
those black
boxes.
Airbus
did not
mention the
loss of the
Air France
flight in
its
statement.
