Analysis | Support grows for new aviation safety measures in face of lasting MH370 mystery
The stubborn mystery of flight MH370’s whereabouts has paralysed efforts to diagnose what went wrong, prompting calls for new safety nets to ensure no airliner ever disappears again.
More than four weeks after the Malaysian Airlines jet vanished in an apparently deliberate diversion, investigators still lack the hard evidence required to dissect an air disaster and recommend change.
Signals detected in the Indian Ocean, where the plane is thought to have crashed, have raised hopes they may be from the plane’s “black box”, but authorities warned of the extreme difficulty faced in finding the recorders in the vast waters.
Having an improved way of tracking aircraft and always knowing where every aircraft is at any given time is a very important thing
The vanishing of MH370 has already given traction to a range of new proposals, with constant in-flight tracking of all passenger aircraft at the forefront.
“Having an improved way of tracking aircraft and always knowing where every aircraft is at any given time is a very important thing,” International Air Transport Association (IATA) chief Tony Tyler said in Kuala Lumpur last week.
“This is clearly now a high priority.”
Beyond normal radar, the key tracking method is the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS), which transmits digital messages on the plane’s vital signs -- including abnormalities -- via satellite or VHS radio. It is used by major airlines.