Satellite firm offers free aircraft tracking service
British satellite operator Inmarsat says it can quickly establish a free global aircraft tracking service over its existing satellite communications network following the loss of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
The proposed system would enable tracking of "virtually 100% of the world’s long-haul commercial fleet", Inmarsat said.
"Because of the nature of existing Inmarsat aviation services, our proposals can be implemented right away on all ocean-going commercial aircraft using equipment that is already installed," Inmarsat CEO Rupert Pearce told an aviation conference in Montreal.
Inmarsat has also proposed what it calls a "black box in the cloud," which could stream historic and real-time flight data recorder and voice recorder information to aviation regulators or safety authorities, if required.
This would not be full time, but would see data uploads automatically start in the event of a range of "trigger events" such as an unapproved course deviation, or a sudden change in altitude, Air Transport World reports.
Flight MH370 vanished on March 8 with 239 people on board, during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
Inmarsat helped to reveal what is believed to be the last position of MH 370, deep in the southern Indian Ocean.
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