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The article's line, "In a world where a $100 smartphone can be tracked for free..." is dishonest. Services like Find My iPhone only work if: 1. The phone can d

by ggreer 11y ago

The article's line, "In a world where a $100 smartphone can be tracked for free..." is dishonest. Services like Find My iPhone only work if: 1. The phone can determine its location via GPS, cell tower, and/or wifi positioning. 2. The phone has Internet access. (Cell or wifi.) As you might suspect, the south Indian Ocean doesn't have many cell towers or wifi hotspots. GPS signals don't penetrate water, nor do the frequencies radiated by cell phones. Even if you had an unobtainium phone that survived the crash and depth, it couldn't be tracked.

cornellwright 11y ago
It's only a little off. Services like Spot [http://findmespot.com/en/ http://findmespot.com/en/] offer satellite tracking with updates every 5 minutes while moving for $100 for equipment and $100/year for service. Spot doesn't quite cover the whole world, but Delorme InReach does [http://www.inreachdelorme.com/ http://www.inreachdelorme.com/] for like $250 for equipment and $150 per year. Given how easily available this technology is to anyone with a credit card, it's hard to understand how a $250M airliner doesn't have something similar.
- hga 11y ago
  The "$250M airliner" has the equipment, the issue is that Malaysia Airlines didn't pay for the service, no doubt they didn't imagine really needing it.
  - Shivetya 11y ago
    Well when the person who ultimate trust is placed in violates that trust it isn't something many consider there any viable counters too. GermanWings suffered a loss from what likely was a similar reason, the difference being that this pilot didn't send the plane into the sea. I am not sure there is a viable means to guard against suicidal pilots except to speed up the acceptance of full automation
    - CamperBob2 11y ago
      I am not sure there is a viable means to guard against suicidal pilots except to speed up the acceptance of full automation Sorry, Dave, I don't think that will guarantee perfect safety either.
melling 11y ago
United seems to have quite a bit of coverage there: https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/travel/inflight/wifi/default.aspx https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/travel/inflight/wif... The map: https://www.united.com/web/format/img/travel/inflight/05-28-14_WiFi-full-coverage-map_921x690.jpg https://www.united.com/web/format/img/travel/inflight/05-28-...
gusmd 11y ago
How is that relevant at all? GPS works pretty much anywhere in the world, even in the middle of the Indian Ocean. It would not penetrate water or survive the crash, which means it couldn't be tracked NOW. Nonetheless, you could know the position a few minutes (seconds?) before the crash, which would make finding the aircraft MUCH easier.
- ssmoot 11y ago
  GPS is one-way. Even if your phone could get a signal, it wouldn't be broadcasting to SARSAT (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Cospas-Sarsat_Programme https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Cospas-Sarsat_Pr...). You'd need something like this: https://www.acrartex.com/products/catalog/epirbs-and-accessories/globalfix-pro/#sthash.2Ehnd1FT.2ScMgqFT.dpbs https://www.acrartex.com/products/catalog/epirbs-and-accesso... and even then, that's manually deployed and needs line of sight to the satellite network. I'm not sure why a plane wouldn't have at least a few such devices on board in case of crash (there's no monthly fee or anything). Just under the skin perhaps so they'd only automatically deploy during something catastrophic? I'm sure someone knows.

by ggreer 11y ago

cornellwright 11y ago

It's only a little off. Services like Spot [http://findmespot.com/en/ http://findmespot.com/en/] offer satellite tracking with updates every 5 minutes while moving for $100 for equipment and $100/year for service. Spot doesn't quite cover the whole world, but Delorme InReach does [http://www.inreachdelorme.com/ http://www.inreachdelorme.com/] for like $250 for equipment and $150 per year. Given how easily available this technology is to anyone with a credit card, it's hard to understand how a $250M airliner doesn't have something similar.

hga 11y ago
The "$250M airliner" has the equipment, the issue is that Malaysia Airlines didn't pay for the service, no doubt they didn't imagine really needing it.
- Shivetya 11y ago
  Well when the person who ultimate trust is placed in violates that trust it isn't something many consider there any viable counters too. GermanWings suffered a loss from what likely was a similar reason, the difference being that this pilot didn't send the plane into the sea. I am not sure there is a viable means to guard against suicidal pilots except to speed up the acceptance of full automation
  - CamperBob2 11y ago
    I am not sure there is a viable means to guard against suicidal pilots except to speed up the acceptance of full automation Sorry, Dave, I don't think that will guarantee perfect safety either.

melling 11y ago

United seems to have quite a bit of coverage there: https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/travel/inflight/wifi/default.aspx https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/travel/inflight/wif... The map: https://www.united.com/web/format/img/travel/inflight/05-28-14_WiFi-full-coverage-map_921x690.jpg https://www.united.com/web/format/img/travel/inflight/05-28-...

gusmd 11y ago

How is that relevant at all? GPS works pretty much anywhere in the world, even in the middle of the Indian Ocean. It would not penetrate water or survive the crash, which means it couldn't be tracked NOW. Nonetheless, you could know the position a few minutes (seconds?) before the crash, which would make finding the aircraft MUCH easier.

ssmoot 11y ago
GPS is one-way. Even if your phone could get a signal, it wouldn't be broadcasting to SARSAT (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Cospas-Sarsat_Programme https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Cospas-Sarsat_Pr...). You'd need something like this: https://www.acrartex.com/products/catalog/epirbs-and-accessories/globalfix-pro/#sthash.2Ehnd1FT.2ScMgqFT.dpbs https://www.acrartex.com/products/catalog/epirbs-and-accesso... and even then, that's manually deployed and needs line of sight to the satellite network. I'm not sure why a plane wouldn't have at least a few such devices on board in case of crash (there's no monthly fee or anything). Just under the skin perhaps so they'd only automatically deploy during something catastrophic? I'm sure someone knows.