CHICAGO — Get lost in the woods and a cell phone in your pocket can help camping buddies find you. Drive into a ditch and GPS in your car lets emergency crews pinpoint the crash site. But when a transcontinental flight is above the middle of the ocean, no one on the ground can see exactly where it is – in the air, or worse, in the water.
The disappearance of Air France Flight 477 and its 228 passengers over the Atlantic Ocean this week has critics of radar-based air traffic control calling on the U.S. and other countries to hasten the move to GPS-based networks that promise to precisely track all planes. Current radars are obsolete more than 200 miles from land.
“The technology’s there — we’ve had this stuff for 15 years and little’s happened,” said Michael Boyd, a Colorado-based airline analyst. “My BlackBerry can be used to track me, so why can’t we do it with planes?”
U.S. officials have discussed setting up such a network since the 1990s and the technology is being tested in parts of the country, including Alaska and off the Gulf Coast. A few carriers, like Southwest, already use GPS to help planes make quicker landings that burn less fuel.
But full implementation, estimated at a cost of US$35 billion, has languished amid funding delays and disputes over technical complexities. Although Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has said the project will be among the Federal Aviation Administration’s top priorities in the Obama administration, the existing radar system is likely to remain for at least another decade.
“It’s a crude system they’re using now,” said Robert Poole, an aviation expert with the free market-oriented Reason Foundation. “For 100 dollars, you can run down and buy a GPS system, put it in your car and know exactly where you are. But planes don’t have it.”
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This is common knowledge and as I read the stories regarding this accident GPS has been front and centre in my mind. “Why is it” I asked myself that almost billion dollar air liners don’t have this capability. Remember that the aircraft concerned sent automatic messages to Paris regarding it’s condition. Why didn’t it send it’s position also?
For less than a $100.00 we would have known instead of guessing.
It’s time to put the pressure on because there is no excuse for this.
Nice idea, but it comes down to bucks. They can not (because of airworthiness issues and regulations) just strap on any old piece of equipment, any old place. It needs a specially designed mounting rack, power, antenna, etc, all of which is competing with the other installed equipment.
Engineering, and airworthiness documentation does not come cheap. Rather than $100, it is probably closer to $100K per aircraft.
Oh, and another thing. The US has announced that due to project slippage and failure to meet specifications, the necessary replacement of aging GPS satelites is falling behind. There is a real risk (estimated 20%) that the complete satelite constellation may not be available.
“So”…we just dispense with the idea. Is that what you are saying?
No Jack. We don’t give up the idea. It has validity. But it is not a hundred dollar panacea. If the airlines were left free to do what they wanted, there would be an incredible scream for more regulation when someone bolts on something that impacts aircraft safety (remember the entertainment system fire on Swiss Air?).
We can’t have it both ways.
So, by all means push for this, but be realistic. A statement from an “expert” such as “For 100 dollars, you can run down and buy a GPS system, put it in your car and know exactly where you are. But planes don’t have it.” is just wrong. All airlines use GPS so they no exactly where they are. What this guy is talking about is re-transmitting data, and that is an engineering problem. Engineering is very expensive.
And, no. I’m NOT an engineer (I wish!)
I see the problem but I think it’s largely a software situation that can be transmitted on the same frequency as other aircraft data. I have been known to be wrong and stand to be corrected but this a great topic to wrap our heads around.
I am floored to find out they don’t have instant GPS communication with traffic towers. That just seems… essential.
Indeed.
NOW you are entering an “Alice in Wonderland” world when you mention software! According to airworthiness regulations, when you change or add software in an aircraft ALL SYSTEMS that communicate with that software (on a wire connection callled a MUX BUS) must be recertified to prove that they have not been adversely impacted. In effect you are trying to prove a negative, and doing it many times over. Imagine trying to prove that the GPS retransmitter has not changed the computerized fuel control! (The example is not an exageration, it is part of something called an “EMI/EMC matrix” on the avionics MUX BUS).
It is not impossible. It is very expensive.
More thoughts Raphael. With your access to the National Post we can really do a number on the people who have held this technology back. I’ll leave it up to you but if I see it I’ll carry it.
Take care…
“It is not impossible. It is very expensive.”
Perhaps…but when you consider the gains and the billions the Liberals want to piss away on every pie in the sky idea what’s a few bucks more between friends? Especially when you could be the guy on the flight.
Can you imagine what that pilot was thinking as his plane went out of control and he had no radio communication? Maybe he could have ditched knowing that people were aware of his exact location. Maybe he didn’t because nobody knew where he was including him and he had no time to call.
I’m not saying it’s going to be cheap. What I am saying is let’s fix it and I don’t give a damn about the cost. Every commercial airliner should be equipped with this technology.
Technical stuff is not my thing, but I don’t understand why black box information can’t be bounced off a satellite. If NASA can receive messages from outerspace (light years away from earth) why can’t information be sent to a communications satellite and then forwarded to earth. I do enough travel that the cause of this crash is of concern to me and I’m sure to all the flying public.