George’s Point of View

SMS development is a good thing, but we shouldn’t abandon black boxes.

Airbus wants to replace black boxes with “a more secure system” of real time satellite transmission.

The thing is we HAVE black box technology now. We should keep using it.

Aviation authorities should mandate the usage of both–keep what’s in place as a backup, and go for the real time data relay also. Not everything works as expected, all of the time, so all possible fail-safes should be employed. It’s not just that all that record-keeping keeps everyone honest; in the case of aviation, all those records will keep people alive.

Real time is not fail-proof, but a FANTASTIC idea. The question of cockpit recordings that infringe on the pilots privacy is going to hang in the air unanswered for now while the real time system is tested and perfected.

The privacy issue is an interesting factor. Some real time conversation in a cockpit is simple camaraderie–a workplace environment thing that makes a working environment comfortable. Plus it works better than coffee to keep the pilots awake and generally on task.

No one likes to work with someone looking over their shoulder. Eventually this may become an issue as authorities will inevitably over-regulate the degree of cockpit conversation–bound to be a factor when one considers the Hudson river crash where air traffic control (not pilots) were discussing cat bbq rather than doing their jobs; and the Colgan Air/Pinnacle cockpit recordings that exposed training deficits just before the icing crash in Buffalo .

The point is that we have the technology; we should use it. It will help save lives.

The IATA is the sixty year old international trade body of aviation, which represents, leads and serves the airline industry in general and is made up of about 230 airlines (93% of international air traffic.) The Superstructure Group has become an IATA partner. The Superstructure Group is developing the STEADES exchange system, provides technology and consultancy services to meet information needs and is bringing realtime SMS software to the aviation industry.

IATA Partners are listed here:
http://www.iata.org/sp/partners_all.htm