Have Your Say

I am a aviation lay person an have learned alot in the last few weeks. In watching news coverage on Malaysia flight MH370 is was shocked to learn that after 911 it was still possible for a plane to go dark. Why are transponders controlled by the crew?

I believe we are lucky in that the satellite comms did not also become disabled. Without that hand-shake attempt there would be no search starting point.

I even learned about Marinetraffic.com that tracks ships at sea.

I have to wonder why — simple GPS technology like Spot Trace cannot be utilized by all aircraft on a global scale. I say global scale because I feel that would help keep costs down.

My point is whether for small private or large commercial aircraft there appears (to me) a non complex method of position reporting.

Being a lay person I hope the more knowledgeable individuals will consider the concept and possibly act on it.