Malaysian MH370 - Tracking

I cannot fathom why ICAO didn`t recommend CPI/ELT with flight data and GPS position, at least as an interim measure, after the AF447 crash. It would float and its transmission would be picked up by COSPAS/SARSAT.

Aviation safety debate rages in wake of Flight MH370 mystery

Flight MH370's unexplained loss over the South China Sea a year ago has spurred a major safety initiative that will have a profound impact on the aviation industry.

The commitment to increased monitoring of aircraft came after soul searching among governments, airlines and regulators under pressure to act on safety.

It is the first set of measures rolled out after the UN's global aviation summit last month - only the second safety conference in its 70-year history.

Trials are now underway between Malaysia, Australia and Indonesia on a flight tracking system that makes contact with air traffic controllers every 15 minutes, down from the hourly monitoring at present.

The decisions embody a difficult legacy from the tragedy of MH370, in which 239 passengers were lost and presumed dead, and are an attempt to ensure a similar disappearance does not happen again.

However, enhanced tracking was "not a silver bullet," warned Airservices Australia chairman Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, who led Australia's search efforts for MH370. Plenty more safety measures are pending agreement. Action has yet to be taken on shortcomings in emergency locater transmitters, on recommending longer battery life for the pingers in black boxes, on extending the duration of the cockpit voice recorders and on discussions about deployable and detectable black boxes that can stream data.

According to representatives at the UN meeting, the wish list of changes yet to be agreed are a result of robust discussions which saw stakeholders differ in their opinions.

Airlines are already balking at installing new monitoring technology, due to cost concerns and a lack of agreement over the kind of tracking needed.

Patrick Ky, executive director of the European Aviation Safety Agency, said the decisions made at the conference last month "go in the right direction."

He said it was critical for regulators to act faster to address recommendations for safety improvements.

An accident aviation board chaired by Malaysia last month officially declared the March 8, 2014 Beijing-bound Malaysia Airlines flight disappearance an accident, triggering insurance and compensation proceedings for families.

Andrew Herdman, the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines director general, said he was concerned that a 12-month timeframe agreed by the industry had not kicked in yet because no agreement on when it should start had been reached.

"It's not clear whether it's feasible, so discussion about the timetable starts when ... there's still an open question about some of those details.

"There was a general agreement we should get started, but you have got to apply these things practically."

Herdman said MH370's loss had triggered a lot of discussion about improving air tracking in future as well as when to initiate and how to target search and rescue efforts.

Referring to AirAsia Flight 8501, which crashed in Indonesia on December 28 killing 162 people on board, he said: "Even in the case of QZ8501, it was clear where the contact was lost and that was the starting point for the search but it still took the best part of a week to the find the wreckage.

"[Aircraft tracking] is really the idea of tracking aircraft that get into abnormal situations or distress, or are lost catastrophically," he said, underlining that better aircraft tracking technology would only be a small improvement without further changes.

Rockwell Collins Teams With OneWeb to Provide Connectivity to Aviation

[Avionics Today 3-16-2015] Rockwell Collins has signed a memorandum of understanding with OneWeb to be the exclusive developer and provider of satellite communication (satcom) terminals for OneWeb's global aviation high-speed broadband service. Rockwell Collins will also be an authorized Value Added Reseller (VAR) of OneWeb connectivity services.

Rockwell Collins' antenna with electronically scanned array technology. Photo: Business Wire.

Under the agreement, OneWeb will team with Rockwell Collins to develop and certify the satcom terminals, which will use Electronically Scanned Array (ESA) antenna technology developed by Rockwell Collins' Advanced Technology Center. Using rapid beam movement and reconfigurable antenna patterns, ESA antennas provide high levels of performance to ensure that aircraft stay connected during flight.

"The antenna is a fraction of the size and weight of a traditional airborne satcom antenna, which means significant long-term cost savings for airlines from reduced fuel consumption," said John Borghese, vice president of the Advanced Technology Center for Rockwell Collins.

OneWeb is building a constellation of more than 600 satellites that, when launched, will provide approximately 10 terabits per second of low-latency, high-speed broadband to people around the globe.