Ships ending search for Air France black boxes

AP ^ | 2009-07-11

[rabscuttle385]

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP)

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

I guess we will never know what happened.

[DB]

Frankly I would be surprised that “black boxes” are/would be designed to withstand such extreme water pressures. Any voids in sealed batteries and/or electronic packaging would be utterly crushed at the depths they think they are.

[null and void]

Even if they did, the batteries on the pingers are only good for a month.

[fieldmarshaldj]

You’d think they could design them to float, not to sink.

[rabscuttle385]

Frankly I would be surprised that “black boxes” are/would be designed to withstand such extreme water pressures. Any voids in sealed batteries and/or electronic packaging would be utterly crushed at the depths they think they are.

Well, one of the black boxes from South African Airways Flight 295 was recovered at 16,000 feet back in the '80s.

[DB]

They are likely still attached to part of the plane through wires etc. So it would be hard to make them float I would think.

[GeronL]

must be a conspirascy

*runs away with all of the tin foil*

[DB]

Did they find it due to the internal pinger or did they find part of the plane it was attached to because they knew where it went down?

[DB]

I just found this regarding flight 295:

“The pingers in the flight data recorders were not designed for deep ocean use, and could therefore also not be used to locate the wreckage.”

[myknowledge]

Until they expire.

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

The place where those black boxes were situated it was impossible to reach. What I understand it was in some deep canyon.That is why the FAA needs to mandate that all black boxes on trans oceanic flights should be equipped with floatation device.Many military aircraft are already equipped with ejectable/deployable flight data recorders and recovery beacons designed to float indefinitely

[Bernard]

I’m waiting for the analysis from Pierre Salinger.

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

LOL.

[HiTech RedNeck]

If we can hear the box ping, the box could hear us ping too, if it were so designed. There ought to be a way of downloading at least an abridged version of its contents through a sonic link if it cannot be physically retrieved.

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

That still will not work if the flight data recorder. I propose two methods 1)That the flight data recorders be equipped with flotation devices 2)The data from the plane is streamed real time to a computer at headquarters where they are recorded.

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

It’s not a stretch to just add the voice and plane control movements to the telemetry stream to the home office/computer. A few data relay satellites and you have world wide coverage.

[Red Dog #1]

When I worked on the C-5A's years ago they had a system that was intended to jettison the voice and data recorders. I also believe the records were buoyant. However many recorders were inadvertently lost and I believe a conventional system has since been installed.

A better solution would be to transmit the data real time to a ground location and use on board records as only a back up. Many modern aircraft already relay a great deal of information for maintenance purposes.

[fieldmarshaldj]

"A better solution would be to transmit the data real time to a ground location and use on board records as only a back up."

Yes, indeed. That sounds like the most sensible alternative.

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

I agree data real time to a ground location is the best alternative