Submission + - Flight Data Recorders, decades out of date (ieee.org)
Tisha_AH writes: "For the past fifty years the technology behind aircraft flight data recorders has remained stagnant. Some of the advances of cloud computing, mesh radio networks, real-time position reporting and satellite communications are held back by a combination of aircraft manufacturers, pilots unions and the slow gears of government bureaucracy. Many recent aircraft loss incidents remain unexplained with black boxes lost on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, buried under the wreckage of the World Trade Centers or with critical information suppressed by government secrecy or aircraft manufacturers.
http://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/aviation/beyond-the-black-box/0
Many recorders still rely upon tape recorders for voice and data that only record a very small sampling of aircraft dynamics, flight and engine systems or crew behaviors. For many aircraft the recorders can only log a hour or two of data before overwriting the tape. All recording stops if the main electrical system fails and there is the ever present circuit breaker in the cockpit that can shut the system down.
Technologically simple solutions like battery backup, continual telemetry feeds by satellite and hundreds of I/O points, monitoring many systems should be within easy reach. An example of an extensive (but still primitive) recording system was during the loss of the NASA Columbia space shuttle. This vessel was equipped with a much larger assortment of monitoring points as it was used as a test-bed during shuttle development. Without the extensive forensic analysis of the telemetry data it would have been nearly impossible to reconstruct the accident in such detail. http://spaceflightnow.com/columbia/report/030826crew/
Pilots unions have objected to the collection and sharing of detailed accident data, citing privacy concerns of the flight crew. Accidents may be due to human errror, process problems or design flaws. Unless we can fully evaluate all factors involved in transportation accidents (aircraft, maritime, rail, transit) it will be difficult to improve the safety record. Recommendations by the NTSB to the FAA have gone unheeded for many years. http://www.policyarchive.org/handle/10207/bitstreams/3687.pdf
With all of the technological advancements that we work with in the IT field what sort of best practices could be brought forward in transit safety?"
http://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/aviation/beyond-the-black-box/0
Many recorders still rely upon tape recorders for voice and data that only record a very small sampling of aircraft dynamics, flight and engine systems or crew behaviors. For many aircraft the recorders can only log a hour or two of data before overwriting the tape. All recording stops if the main electrical system fails and there is the ever present circuit breaker in the cockpit that can shut the system down.
Technologically simple solutions like battery backup, continual telemetry feeds by satellite and hundreds of I/O points, monitoring many systems should be within easy reach. An example of an extensive (but still primitive) recording system was during the loss of the NASA Columbia space shuttle. This vessel was equipped with a much larger assortment of monitoring points as it was used as a test-bed during shuttle development. Without the extensive forensic analysis of the telemetry data it would have been nearly impossible to reconstruct the accident in such detail. http://spaceflightnow.com/columbia/report/030826crew/
Pilots unions have objected to the collection and sharing of detailed accident data, citing privacy concerns of the flight crew. Accidents may be due to human errror, process problems or design flaws. Unless we can fully evaluate all factors involved in transportation accidents (aircraft, maritime, rail, transit) it will be difficult to improve the safety record. Recommendations by the NTSB to the FAA have gone unheeded for many years. http://www.policyarchive.org/handle/10207/bitstreams/3687.pdf
With all of the technological advancements that we work with in the IT field what sort of best practices could be brought forward in transit safety?"
