h a l f b a k e r yAmbivalent? Are you sure?
add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, random
news, help, about, links, report a problem
browse anonymously,
or get an account
and write.
register,
|
|
|
|
Until the first time it shorts out, and the pilots can't
cut the circuit, resulting in a fire burning down the
wing. |
|
|
Instead of self-powered, integrate it with ignition circuits.
Any tampering disables the airplane before it even takes
off. |
|
|
I thought they usually put them in the empannage, or am I thinking of something else. |
|
|
Put one on _each_ wingtip. |
|
|
If the distance between them changes, you know it's
not going well. |
|
|
There are good reasons why pilots can turn
transponders on and off. If you want better airline
tracking, it should be a satellite based tracker that
simply sends position updates every 5 minutes. |
|
|
nobody's bothered to activate gps on the passengers' cellphones yet I imagine. |
|
|
//nobody's bothered to activate gps on the
passengers' cellphones yet I imagine.// |
|
|
Yes, I expect somebody has activated gps on the
passengers' cellphones, so that the passengers, if
alive, will know where they are. |
|
|
Sadly, unless they have crashed fairly close to one
of
the many cellphone masts in the Indian ocean, it
will be of no assistance in finding them. |
|
|
// self-contained battery powered transponder // |
|
|
Maybe they could use those Lithium-ion batteries from the 787 ... then you could find the plane by just following the smoke trail. |
|
|
//Sadly, unless they have crashed fairly close to one of the many cellphone masks in the Indian ocean, it will be of no assistance in finding them. |
|
|
Which suggests subsidizing shark-fishing boats. They can remove the fin surgically and replace it with a prosthetic containing a mobile phone repeater. Over time it should be possible to provide fair coverage. I feel a post coming on. |
|
|
// a satellite based tracker that simply sends position
updates every 5 minutes // |
|
|
They could piggyback the technology on that used by big
Class-A North American railroads, which I believe* is itself
piggybacked on something else. |
|
|
* believe because I don't know, but I can't imagine a
railroad spending money on anything new when they can
pick up something cheap on the used market. |
|
|
Black boxes are well protected. By a tough outer
casing AND MILES of red tape. It would be impressive
if they brought them up to 2004 level of tech.
Nowadays, it would be possible to record the whole
flight video, audio, flight parameters, on 100
distributed microSD cards and beam the whole lot up
by satellite in real time all the time. It's not even
expensive. |
|
|
So, who gets to climb out onto the wing when ATC asks
you to squawk/ident? If you are NORDO (7600),
hijacked (7500) or declaring an emergency (7700)
there would be no way to change codes.
[-] |
|
|
//there would be no way to change codes// |
|
|
I'm not suggesting this should be the _only_ transponder on the plane. |
|
|
//The reason the pilots are given such a convenient way to turn the self- reporting maintenance system off is for inflight troubleshooting.// |
|
|
Sure, let 'em troubleshoot all the standard systems, however they like. This one wouldn't come into play until the "forensic analysis" stage, so there wouldn't be this source of confusion. |
|
|
//...completely self contained which is always off UNLESS a discrepancy is detected...// |
|
|
How does this detection of discrepancies relate to this system's completely self-containedness? |
|
|
//Or leave the current system in place as is and add one that is triggered thusly.// |
|
|
I don't know... gay terrorists could threaten to turn
our homes and important landmarks bright purple... |
|
| |