AF447 black box recovered

[captainklm 1]

GREAT NEWS!!! They had just found the CVR! Two days after the FDR they found it, this is great news. Now the French team has everything they need. They report that the CVR is in good condition and will arrive in Paris in 10 days

[teropa 4]

In my opinion, the discovery of FDR and CVR are of utmost importance when it comes to solving the mystery here.It is obvious that the ACARS messages only uncover a part of the story. One view point. One limited view point, from a small time window, and basically showing just the reaction of the airplane's systems. Not what the airplane reacted To. There's still a lot to be found about the moments just preceding whatever the hell happened that caused those ACARS messages to be transmitted in the first place. So the FDR will likely reveal the majority of the events leading to the airplane falling out of the sky.When it comes to CVR, it'll most likely uncover a completely different point of view. Optimally we can learn two things from there: if the crew decided to do something wrong/right based on what happened to the airplane at any given time. Ie. the crew reactions to events that unfolded. And the other thing is that FDR might not reveal some environmental conditions that played a part in the disaster, something that might be "embedded" in the conversation between crew members. So that side might uncover something totally new that the FDR recordings might not even touch. Both boxes are equally important and provide data from different viewpoints. IF data from both units is recoverable, let's say optimally all of it, then the picture painted of the events, just before the ACARS messages were sent, will be a complex one, and with professional interpretation and professional investigators doing their job, a picture can be painted about what most likely happened. Maybe even with absolute certainty. Hopefully.I am quite confident that the Boxes will ultimately tell us what happened. I hope so for the sake of all the relatives and families of the deceased ones. And for the sake of airliner safety, so professionals can do what there is to be done to prevent this kind of thing from ever happening again.Tero Partanen

[3-2-1-Now 126]

While weather was a factor in the flight there is no evidence that it was the main factor. Other flights followed the same route within minutes both ahead and behind and while they reported significant weather they never confronted anything out of the ordinary. Not that I'm saying it could not be the case, but the signs are not there to blame the weather on its own.

An excellent point. Unfortunately to discuss this point further would be to speculate.Best regards,Robin.

[sddjd 117]

It IS great news that the FDR and CVR have both been recovered, but there is still (IMO) the spectre of Raison d'Etat in the matter. I sincerely hope we aren't treated to a lengthly delay only to be told that the relevant data from one or both devices is missing/corrupt, etc. There is certainly precedent for such (not necessary to debate this here; this is ONLY my opinion and the published reports are out there for those who wish to draw their own conclusions) actions, and the BEA operates under the same conflicts of interest as the FAA: it exists both to promote and police the aviation industry. The cynic in me has no belief whatsoever that we'll EVER see the release of any data that would implicate the aircraft itself in the accident.

[Tabs 2,790]

What I don't understand, in this time and age, why planes are not using Wireless data recorders. Why are we still limited to using black boxes that are physically inside the plane? Why can't the plane wirelessly transmit live data to the dispatchers of their airline, and also wirelessly transmit the cockpit voice recorder data to a database? This would save millions of dollars in investment and time, and would help speed up the investigation ten fold.

I can think of situations where that wouldn't work though - what if the transmitting antenna is damaged or blocked before the end of the accident event? It's a good idea but I think it'd still need to be backed up by onboard recorders.

[3-2-1-Now 126]

The reason for on-board recorders is that they are linked directly to the aircraft systems and can record all the data very quickly. The bandwidth requirements would probably be too large for a real-time sat link, not to mention the cost of such a system. It would also assume a constant sky view, and that it can communicate with satellites in the first instance.If an aircraft is in the process of crashing, it means something has gone catastrophically wrong.Best regards,Robin.

[boeingboeing 0]

If you think about it there is no need to make a real time full dump of the information contained in the black box, maybe with regular position reporting at short intervals would be enough. Once you are aware an airplane has been lost the first question that arises is WHERE? In this case (for instance) mandatory GPS position reporting over the sat link every few seconds while in uncontrolled airspace, specially over large bodies of water, would have narrowed the search right from the beginning to a very limited area. Once you have a precise location of the wreckage retrieving the black boxes becomes a lot easier because the pingers are working with full batteries, I'm sure you remember how important it became to locate them within the first 30 days. After that finding them became a lot more difficult. It was very fortunate this particular airplane was equipped with an automated maintenance reporting system that was configured to include GPS position on each message initiated by a new event. That system was not mandatory and just a few airplanes of the AF fleet were equipped as a test to study the economic feasibility to install the system for the whole fleet. That's why AF was capable of pointing an approximate search area and even so it was still hundreds of square miles wide because between the last position report and the assumed crash time several minutes had past.The thing is existing networks have been able to handle such messages for a long time, even before AF447's crash.Had this been a standard airplane we might still be looking for wreckage remains, let alone the black boxes.

[3-2-1-Now 126]

No need for the aircraft to report that kind of info. "They" can see more than they claim.Best regards,Robin.

[Tabs 2,790]

The reason for on-board recorders is that they are linked directly to the aircraft systems and can record all the data very quickly. The bandwidth requirements would probably be too large for a real-time sat link, not to mention the cost of such a system.

It's actually probably not - your average online multiplayer game or 3G cell phone is sending out a lot more information than what an FDR's likely doing in terms of data throughput. The CVR is another matter though unless it could be compressed in real time at the point of transmission.

[BIGSKY 316]

I know this is probably a long shot,but does anybody know if the FDR is capable of saving radar weather data from the nav display? It would be interesting to see what the crew from Air France 459,right behind 447 saw,that caused them to divert to the east.

[Tabs 2,790]

I know this is probably a long shot,but does anybody know if the FDR is capable of saving radar weather data from the nav display? It would be interesting to see what the crew from Air France 459,right behind 447 saw,that caused them to divert to the east.

I'm sure it's not, though the CVR recordings will likely shed light on what they were seeing on the radar - I'm sure they talked about that.

[wedgantilles 76]

Okay, today is the day, as it had been announced in the French news, BEA today confirmed that they had been able to recover all the data from both bacl boxes, meaning they have the full data from the Flight Data Recorder, as well as from the Cockpit Voice Recorder.They said that they'll now be working on the data which will take several weeks, and that the Preliminary report should be made available to the public during this summer.CheersAurelien

[FLEX1978 373]

Okay, today is the day, as it had been announced in the French news, BEA today confirmed that they had been able to recover all the data from both bacl boxes, meaning they have the full data from the Flight Data Recorder, as well as from the Cockpit Voice Recorder.They said that they'll now be working on the data which will take several weeks, and that the Preliminary report should be made available to the public during this summer.CheersAurelien

Great news!

[gman1986 14]

Good news

[captainklm 1]

Excelant!