Airbus faces manslaughter charges over Rio crash

[FrugalFlyerv2.0]

A French judge has filed preliminary manslaughter charges against European aircraft maker Airbus over a crash in 2009.

The cause of the accident is not known, though sensors on the aircraft sent faulty speed readings to pilots.

Airbus says no one can know for sure what happened as the so-called "black boxes", which monitored events during the flight, have not been recovered.

BBC news

 

[Robert Streiferd]

There seems to be a recognizable pattern of black boxes not being recovered. It might be time for new technology.


Robert Streiferd

 

[xUT]

There seems to be a recognizable pattern of black boxes not being recovered. It might be time for new technology.


Robert Streiferd

The technology of the 'black boxes' [FDR's and CVR's ] (which are actually orange... ) has been upgraded continuously.

The problem is:
1) Survivability (how much impact and heat can the box withstand)
2) Location Reporting Under Water (self activated marker Underwater Locator Beacons are attached to each box)

In a severe crash, the 'box' can be destroyed with the aircraft.

On the open oceans, the marker beacon is pretty much worthless at depths (depending on beacon manufacture).
One concept being researched is 'real time' data recording from the aircraft to a land location.
One problem is if there is an electrical failure, there would be a failure of transmission so there would still be a need for an 'on board' FDR/CVR for backup.
B) xUT

38 Years in Aviation, now not so much...

 

[JT8D Overhaul]

WE haven't put nearly the same amount of effort into making telemtry systems as robust as the current FDR/CVR technologies.
THe survivability of these telemetry mechanisms could be significantly improved upon - - - if we wanted to.
Remember that CVR/FDR failures *also* have occurred, rarely - - - the boxes themselves may continue to function but, if, for example, A/C wiring is destroyed - - - input data to the recorders goes dead.

My point is that all data recording mechanisms have vulnerabijlities and that real-time telemetry mechanisms could be made at least as robust as current FDR/CVR mechanisms *and* offers the additional benefit of providing immediate access to significant flight dynamics data in the event of a catastrophic upset.

In the end, our ability to understand the causes of a given failure may or may not be improved upon. But it is the expediency with which the rest of the world can begin to act to mitigate likely causes OR to avoid unneccessary expense resulting from speculation which might have significant value.

OR - we can wait two years for the "black boxes" to be recovered.

The technology of the 'black boxes' [FDR's and CVR's ] (which are actually orange... ) has been upgraded continuously.

The problem is:
1) Survivability (how much impact and heat can the box withstand)
2) Location Reporting Under Water (self activated marker Underwater Locator Beacons are attached to each box)

In a severe crash, the 'box' can be destroyed with the aircraft.

On the open oceans, the marker beacon is pretty much worthless at depths (depending on beacon manufacture).
One concept being researched is 'real time' data recording from the aircraft to a land location.
One problem is if there is an electrical failure, there would be a failure of transmission so there would still be a need for an 'on board' FDR/CVR for backup.
B) xUT

38 Years in Aviation, now not so much...