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Malaysia: Radar Tracked Object Over Strait of Malacca Saturday Morning - Life Raft Reported Found, Fishermen Say They Saw Low-Flying Plane
New information arose Wednedsday about the possible direction that the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner took Saturday after taking off from Kuala Lumpur. A Royal Malaysian Air Force base tracked what it termed an unidentified object over the Strait of Malacca early Saturday morning ... (www.frequentbusinesstraveler.com) Más...
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Please excuse me if my area of inquiry has been covered earlier in this chain, but I have been wondering why transponders in commercial aircraft are not designed so that cannot be "turned off" from inside the aircraft. I have watched news reports and endless talking heads on the topic of this missing aircraft but no one I have seen or read has touched on this issue. It would seem axiomatic that shielding the transponder operation from "in flight" tampering would make it easier for the authorities to recognize incidents involving human intervention from those involving catastrophic system failure.
Short answer would be it's an electronic device in the aircraft and is subject to failing and catching fire. As such, there needs to be a method to remove the source of fire (electricity) from it at any given time, by the crew of the aircraft.
When a piece of equipment fails and is smoking, burning, and causing melted wires and plastic to be falling on other equipment or your feet, you'll be glad that there is a circuit breaker to pull and stop the problem.
Aircraft systems are built to ensure safety, and reasonable methods for the crew to resolve problems. They are not usually built for tamper proofing in case of a terrorist event. Think about it, what happens more often? A mechanical failure or a terrorist situation?
When a piece of equipment fails and is smoking, burning, and causing melted wires and plastic to be falling on other equipment or your feet, you'll be glad that there is a circuit breaker to pull and stop the problem.
Aircraft systems are built to ensure safety, and reasonable methods for the crew to resolve problems. They are not usually built for tamper proofing in case of a terrorist event. Think about it, what happens more often? A mechanical failure or a terrorist situation?
What you say makes perfect sense. I am not a pilot and had not thought about the fire hazard issue. I guess there is no fail safe way to install a device to provide vital information respecting an object that can distinguish between these circumstances.
Most commercial aircraft have multiple transponders in them. This situation is such a rare occurrence (when's the last time an airliner went missing?) that it isn't a reasonable eventually to plan for.
As you note, there is not a way to have a fail safe for this situation, and the only way to truly ensure it never happens is to never fly. But that is not a reasonable solution either...
As you note, there is not a way to have a fail safe for this situation, and the only way to truly ensure it never happens is to never fly. But that is not a reasonable solution either...
