re: Official Thread: Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

Nice to know that the guys who make my digital programmable thermostat also make the flight data recorders.

Yessir. That's cool- hopefully it'll be a bit warmer then.

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aluminium

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My h.s. chemistry teacher said "OWLYOUMENEEEUM". We laughed at her behind her back.

It may just be a sunning bull ray

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we have high speed internet access, can't all the telemetry, etc. from an airplane be stored in a cloud? the idea of a black box on the airplane containing all the relevant data seems..well...'quaint'. it doesnt make sense to me this black box is the best way to keep all this data when you got a $30 million dollar airplane, how much could it cost to store the data remotely instead of buried in a box?

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On long haul flights, how would you communicate the data? Via satellite?

Think about a flight non-stop from LA to Tokyo. That plane will be out over the open pacific for a long time, only way to get the info into the cloud would be through a satellite data feed.

How many satellites would you need to put up in order to cover every flight path in the world, as well as have enough bandwidth for every plane in the air?

What happens if a couple get hit by micrometeors and are taken out. You have a coverage gap.

Much easier to keep the data in a solid state form where it is recorded so there is the best possible chance of having all of the data you need.

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On long haul flights, how would you communicate the data? Via satellite?

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And satellite time is expensive.

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I'm throwing the ACR PLB in the carry-on for the next overseas flight

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I would also suggest an oxygen mask & tank, a small handgun, a couple of MREs, toothbrush/toothpaste and a change of undewear and you're ready to fly to Malaysia

and more about GOGO

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Gogo uses a variety of advanced technologies to keep passengers connected in air. Below are the current technologies they use.

Air-To-Ground (ATG) Gogo's ATG network is a cellular based network that has more than 160 towers in the continental U.S., Alaska and soon, Canada. The towers are cellphone towers that have been outfitted to point their signals at the sky rather than along the ground. The aircraft picks up the signal through a receiver installed on its underside. When it reaches the aircraft, the data signal is distributed throughout the cabin via a Wi-Fi system.

ATG-4 Gogo's ATG-4 service has enhanced the existing network (ATG) and improves per aircraft capacity through the addition of Directional Antenna, Dual Modem and EV-DO Rev. B technologies. This new platform is backwards-compatible and allows for upgrades to existing ATG systems through low-cost retrofits. ATG-4 is expected to enhance Gogo's existing ATG network and deliver peak speeds from current performances of up to 3.1 Mbit/s to up to 9.8 Mbit/s per aircraft.

Ka-band satellite Gogo was named a service provider for Inmarsat's Global Xpress satellite service in November, 2011. Inmarsat also selected Gogo's business aviation subsidiary, Aircell as a distribution partner for the business and government aviation markets.

Ku-band satellite Gogo has satellite agreements in place with SES (for coverage over the U.S., Atlantic Ocean and Europe) and Intelsat (for coverage over portions of the Atlantic and northern Pacific oceans, as well as routes over South America, Asia, Africa and Australia). Gogo has also signed an agreement with Intelsat for Ku band satellite capacity specifically for coverage in the Atlantic and northern Pacific oceans, as well as routes over Central and South America, Asia, Australia and parts of Africa. Gogo announced in May 2012, that it will partner with satellite equipment provider, AeroSat, to bring a Ku-satellite solution to commercial airlines. A Ku-satellite solution will allow Gogo to offer airlines connectivity services that extend beyond the United States, including transoceanic routes, and will serve the needs of some of their airline partners in the near-term until Inmarsat's Global Xpress Ka band-satellite becomes available.[7][8][9]

Gogo Ground to Orbit Gogo's newest service is a proprietary hybrid technology that combines the best aspects of existing satellite technologies with Gogo's Air to Ground network. This technology uses satellite for receive only and Gogo's Air to Ground network for the return link to the ground. Gogo GTO offers peak speeds of 60 Mbit/s or more to aircraft flying throughout North America and will be available in 2014. This new service is expected to increase speeds by more than six times the current performance.Virgin America will be the launch partner of the new service.[10]

Technology for business aviation For the Business/corporate aviation market, Aircell, a Gogo company, offers three different inflight technologies: Iridium Satellite, Inmarsat SwiftBroadband (satellite) and Gogo Biz (ATG and ATG-4).

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Time will tell if this image was the plane.

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We already figured it out - It's Tom Hanks.