After the EgyptAir A320 crash, Airbus decided to step up the development of alternatives to black boxes. Two options are being considered: data transmission via satellite or the creation of non-sinking recorders

Airbus logo (Photo: Reuters/Pixstream)

Airbus is intensifying its development of alternative ways to obtain information in the event of plane crashes after the flight recorders of the crashed Egyptian airliner could not be found after two weeks of searching. According to The Wall Street Jornal, this was stated by the company’s technical director, Charles Champion.

Airbus is considering two concepts. One of them, according to Champion, is to create a system for monitoring technical parameters during the flight. If problems arise, the aircraft will automatically begin transmitting more detailed data, which will later help investigators reconstruct the picture of the incident.

Champion noted that significant progress has been made in implementing this idea, and the main difficulty remains gaining access to satellite frequencies to transmit this data. However, he noted that in the case of the Egyptian A320, a new approach would hardly help clarify the causes of the disaster, since the sudden destruction of the aircraft would not lead to an increase in the transmitted information.

An alternative is also being considered to install additional recorders that detach from the aircraft when it falls into the water and remain afloat. Boeing uses a similar system on military aircraft, but the company is against its use on civilian airliners due to doubts about its reliability.

The US Federal Aviation Administration has also opposed the idea of requiring additional black boxes because they are not a replacement for traditional recorders. According to Champion, some concerns related to the placement of pyrotechnic devices on an airplane to shoot off recorders or their abnormal operation are unnecessary.

An EgyptAir plane en route from Paris to Cairo crashed over the eastern Mediterranean on May 19. There were 66 passengers and crew members on board. Investigators have still not been able to establish the cause of the crash after examining the wreckage of the plane and the remains of the victims.

Signals received from the aircraft, sent automatically before communication ceased, also did not clarify the situation. “Black boxes” equipped with signal beacons were also not detected, and their battery charge lasts for 30 days, WSJ recalls.

This is not the first time that specialists have encountered the problem of detecting flight recorders or extracting information from them. The black boxes of the Air France plane that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on the route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris were found only two years later. In the case of the disappearance of the Malaysian Boeing 777 in March 2014, neither recorders nor debris that definitely belonged to the missing airliner have yet been found.

Airbus will accelerate the creation of an alternative to "black boxes" after the crash of the A320