Commercial Aircraft lost at sea. What is going on?
Don Davis
ENG102 First-Year Composition
Alexis Laduca
12507
22 April 2014
Don Davis
Alexis LaDuca
ENG 102
12507
22 April 2014
Commercial Aircraft lost at sea. What is going on?
In the last five years we have had two commercial airlines lost with major problems in locating the black boxes used to determine why the plane crashed. Locating and determining why these aircraft have crashed is critically important to the aircraft industry and the flying public's confidence in it. So let's examined what the aircraft industry is doing today to find cockpit voice recorders (CVR) and flight data recorder will s (FDR) and what the aircraft industry is planning to do in the future. We'll also take a look at why five years after AF447 progress the aircraft industry is so slow in making improvements. First we'll take a look at what happened with the past two aircraft incidents.
In June 2008 Air France 447 (AF447) was lost in the middle of the Atlantic between Rio de Janeiro and Paris. It was 11 hours after the airplane had crashed before search and rescue aircraft took off (BEA 83). It was five days before he wreckage spotted and it took 23 months to search, locate and recover the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) (BEA 84) according to the final report on the aircraft crash by the Bureau d'Enquętes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile (BEA) which is the French equivalent to the United States National Transportation Safety Board (BEA 193). "No signal from either of the beacons was detected by the sensors deployed in the area despite TPL [Towed Pinger Locator] passing by, on two occasions, not far from the debris field, on 22 and 23 June 2009" (BEA 83). The lack of a signal from the ULBs is the primary reason the search dragged on for almost two years.
Malaysian Airlines 370 (MH370) was lost on March 8, 2014 when the Air Traffic Control transponder either failed or was turned off and the aircraft turned south deep into the Indian Ocean for unknown reasons without radio contact from the flight crew to explain why with the apparent loss of the aircraft, crew and passengers. It is entirely possible the aircraft with the CVR and FDR may never be recovered due to the vastness of the possible search area as of April 1, 2014. The search for AF447 cost over 44 million dollars; the potential cost of the search for MH370 will almost certainly be in the hundreds of millions of dollars (Wardell). A cost that at this point it is unknown who will ultimately bear.
How do we find Aircraft lost at sea today?
Today there are two ways for aircraft to report Flight Position to Oceanic Air Traffic Control (ATC), manually via HF radio (HF) and digitally via Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B). Over most of the world's oceans position reports are provided over HF radio "at every waypoint [(latitude/longitude)] you fly over. . . [or if] 45 minutes has passed since your last report" (IVAO USA). A commercial aircraft could easily cover 400 miles in 45 minutes using HF position reporting. Fortunately HF position reporting is slowly being phased out by ADS-B. Using ADS-B aircraft report their position on flights over the ocean using both GPS and satellite communications technology by using ADS-B to digitally report their position to Oceanic ATC "once per second containing the aircraft's position, velocity, identification, and other information" (Federal Aviation Administration 1). However worldwide implementation of ADS-B is expected in the 2020-2025 time frame so Ideally an aircraft lost which is being monitored by ADS-B and crashes in the ocean should be easy to locate as you would simply look where the last position report was received.
Locating anything lost that is both deep in the ocean and far away from land has often been described as looking for a needle in a haystack. And oceanographers who engage in this type of searching will tell you the importance of knowing where the haystack is. And sunlight is useless for searching below 660 feet. So position reporting is critical in determining where the "haystack" is but how do we find the needle? That is where the Underwater Locator Beacon (ULB) also known as a Pinger comes in. A ULB is a water activated sound beacon that emits a 38.5KHZ signal that can be heard by specialized sonar equipment up to 5-6 miles away, will operate for a minimum of 30 days after being activated by water activated switch withstand a depth of up to 20,000 feet (6000 meters). A TPL should detect an ULB at a range of 2000 to 4000 yards (1800 to 3600 meters) (Dukane). As noted earlier the TPL came within detection range in the case of AF447 but I have been unable to locate any information as to why the TPL failed to detect the two ULBs on AF447. The BEA final accident report is strangely silent on this issue even though both ULBs were recovered and should have been available for testing and inspection.
Another technology used to locate airplane crashes is the Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) which is activated by a crash condition and then sends out a radio transmission to orbiting satellites which then triangulate the location and send it to the appropriate rescue organization.
On a Boeing 777 an ELT "is mounted to the top center of the fuselage in the passenger cabin area" (The Boeing Company). Commercial aircraft in addition to the fuselage mounted ELT have additional ELTs as part of the onboard survival equipment. Typical numbers can range from 4-8 depending on the carrier and nation of registry. Locations on the on the aircraft can vary also as some are stowed in life rafts or the escape slides and some can be carried in stowage areas on the aircraft. The problem with the fuselage mount is the ELT can be ripped away from the antenna due to the force of the crash. In addition there are also problems with "antenna breakage, inverted wreckage masking signals, [being] crushed or consumed by fire or submerged" (Psutka). The ELTs on a commercial aircraft are designed to float and have a water activated switching device however they are typically secured during flight and often sink with whatever part of the aircraft they are attached to. For now there are no new developments in improving ELT survivality.
What are the future improvements in crash location technology?
There are technologies being discussed to improve crash location technologies. They are improvements to the ULB battery life, an additional low frequency ULB. Another technology is ADS-B which monitors aircraft position. Crash deployable flight recorders are also being considered as well as streaming flight data via a satellite. Let's us take a closer look at each technology.
There are several improvements to ULB technology in progress. ULB Battery Life is in the process of being extended from 30 days to 90 days. There will be an additional ULB attached to the fuselage which will broadcast at a lower frequency which increases the range the beacon can be heard. In light of the MH370 tragedy and the lingering doubt over whether the ULB heard was the ULB attached to the aircraft I suspect we will see a simple identification code such as a serial number added to the sound waveform of a ULB which would not be technically difficult. Unfortunately the requirement for the 90 day battery takes effect in March of 2015 and the requirement for the low frequency fuselage attached ULB will take place in 2018. Also the regulations at the present time do not require retrofitting so considering a 6 year life the last 30 day ULB may not be replaced until 2021. The cost of upgrading to a 90 day battery is because of special transport rules, adding to the expense of this upgrade (Federal Aviation Administration). While progress is being made in this area, it will be at a slow pace. In addition, nothing has been done to improve the survivality or the quality of the ULB design
The Future Air Navigation System (FANS) and ADS-B are systems where commercial aircraft transmit identification, current position, heading, altitude, and velocity, digitally through an onboard transmitter as discussed earlier. "On 30 June 2010. . . This rule requires ADS-B Out performance when operating in designated classes of airspace within the NAS after 1 January 2020" (Universal Avionics). There is, however considerable concern over the FAA meeting the 2020 deadline by the "The greatest risks to successfully implementing ADS-B are airspace users' reluctance to purchase and install new avionics for their aircraft and FAA's ability to define requirements for the more advanced capabilities" (DOT Office of Inspector General) and "FAA has never managed such a large effort to equip commercial aircraft" (DOT Office of Inspector General).
The US Military has had crash Deployable Flight Recorders (DFR) for over twenty years with 110 crashes and 110 successful deployments. In addition to crash data the device incorporates an ELT which broadcasts the aircraft serial number (Werfelman, Thinking outside the black box).
Streaming data is another technology that has been popularly suggested for use in Locating and accessing FDR information. After all, if we can stream movies in high definition why can't we do the same with the FDR data? In light of the AF447 tragedy there has been a tremendous amount of research into aircraft streaming fight data if the aircraft detects a potential crash condition. On September 3, 2010 a UPS 747-400 successfully uplinked flight using a streaming data before a fatal catastrophic crash due to a cargo fire (Werfelman, Narowing the search). This data was streamed live in real-time to the UPS command center in Lexington, KY. UPS was aware the flight had an inflight fire before the plane had crash and was aware of when, where and why the flight terminated (BEA). However there are several concerns about this technology. Pilots tend to be resistant to any voice recording technology that could be used to eavesdrop on their private conversations in the cockpit. As an avionics technician I have tested the CVR erase function which is triggered whenever the parking brake is turned on. The reason for this is to protect the private conversations of the pilots from being eavesdropped on by company management (pilots are instructed to pull the CVR circuit breaker in case of a safety incident that results in a successful landing). I've also tested aircraft Satcom systems and they work great when making a tight banked turn, but I have my doubts about the Satcom antenna system maintaining a lock on the satellite when the aircraft is in a detected "crash condition" which could be in an upside down flight condition.
What does the future hold for Crash location reporting?
There is good news in the wake of the loss of MH370. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is convening a special meeting May 12-13 to discuss deployable flight recorders and the triggered transmission of flight data. There is more that the industry and government regulators should do to ensure aircraft lost at sea can be located quickly. Currently the only regulation that I could find to prevent another long winded search is extending the life of the ULB from 30 days to 90 days and the addition of a fuselage mounted low frequency ULB (European Aviation Safety Agency).
Setting up the infrastructure to modify existing commercial aircraft to new standards is is a major undertaking. Typically the industry expects three years from a rule being enacted and the implementation date (Federal Aviation Administration). In addition, implementation could only apply to new aircraft builds or when existing parts reach the end of their lifespans. The aircraft industry has to design the change; test the change to ensure it works and that there are no unintended consequences, then it has to develop a manufacturing process which is far easier to do when building a new aircraft than when the aircraft is in service.
Finally there is a cost involved both in implementing a new technology and the weight penalty of the modification which incurs a fuel cost. To give you an idea of how much weight is a consideration in the aircraft industry when I worked at Boeing as an Avionics Tech inspection would make you replace a bolt with a shorter and lighter one if more than 4 threads showed from the attachment point. While one bolt won't make a difference a Boeing 747-400 has over 3 million fasteners which makes the rule one that would make a substantial savings in weight with the corresponding benefit of reduced fuel costs. Studies have shown the cost of carrying one extra pound on an aircraft for a year at 36,000USD in 2012 (Allain). An airline adding a crash deployable FDR module such as the "503-16 Series CPI Beacon with Memory Module" (TechTest Limited) that weighs nine pounds over a fleet of 300 aircraft would incur a fuel cost of 9.72 million USD per year. Keep in mind that with the exception of extending the battery life of the ULB all of these suggested improvements are to supplement the existing recording mechanism and will not replace them.
Knowing why airplanes crash is important. It was known via the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) messages that AF447 had lost its airspeed indication due to a pitot tube icing problem (a known problem with a fleet wide fix in progress) before the FDR was recovered. What the CVR and FDR revealed was that the pilot flying (PF/PNF) the Airbus was not flying the plane correctly, which was to put the throttle at 85% and fly with the nose at 5 degrees up. Even worse the PNF was not aware the PF was pulling the nose up causing a stall. This has caused the industry to review both pilot training and the inability due to the design of the side stick controller on Airbus aircraft for the PNF to see what input the PF is commanding the aircraft to do (BEA 174). The inability of the PNF not to know the position of the control input is something that cannot happen on a Boeing aircraft since while they are now fly by wire starting with the 777 they retained the control yoke, the position of which is visible to everyone in the cockpit. I'm convinced the 44 million USD spent to recover AF447 and finding the problem was not just simply the Pitot tube freezing was worth every penny and I hope you are too.
So what can you do to have the aircraft industry work faster on implementing these solutions? You should write your congressman and senator for one. Ask them why they are not implementing the Safe Aviation and Flight Enhancement Act of 2007 (Price) which mandates deployable flight recorders and was last introduced in congress in 2007? The chairman of the FAA and the Secretary of the Department of Transportation is another as well as the President. Do you fly? Write the chairman of the airlines you spend the most time flying. Let them know you want speedier action. For the families who lost loved ones on AF447 the wait for answers must have seen like an eternity. . For the families who lost loved ones on MH370 it may be eternity if it is not found.
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