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Technology Solutions To Prevent a Repeat of Flight 370


Here are some real simple solutions to prevent a repeat of Flight MH370 scenarios from repeating.

1) When the transponder is turned off, before it goes off, it sends a signal that advises that it is being switched off.
2) There is real time monitoring and recording systems that monitor that signal.
3) The same for ACARS.  When it is switched off, before it goes silent, it transmits a switched-off signal as well.
4) A hue and cry is issued when the ACARS is turned off.  The airline head office and controlling ATC sector is notified immediately and repeatedly.
5) A secondary module called a handover module is hooked up to the ATC (Air Traffic Control) radar processors to monitor handoff.  As a plane is leaving a sector, a system generated message is sent to the ongoing ATC zone and the handoff is picked up.  If it fails, alarms go off.
6) Flight plans are filed in electronic format that is easily translated to machine readable format.
7) The radar processor has a flight plan deviation module that reads and monitors the flight plan.  If the aircraft is not where it is supposed to be, alarms are raised.
8) A QoS (Quality of Service) channel is created to stream meta-data realtime when the autopilot is set, programmed, re-programmed and/or changed. Any major changes in the cockpit or airplane are monitored in real time.
9) A flying plane transmits a machine generated heartbeat to the airline technical office every ten minutes.  The pilots have to manually acknowledge this signal even when the plane is on auto pilot.
10) All of this information is fed into a big data repository where it is mined for the benefit of the industry.

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