The mysterious disappearance of MH370 begs a review of aircraft tracking

As I write this, it has been 10 days since Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 vanished into thin air. Circumstantial evidence is mounting to suggest that the Boeing 777-200ER airliner was deliberately flown off its planned course from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing after the plane’s position data system and voice communications were intentionally shut off. The motives behind these acts aren’t yet known – and may never be– but the intention to render the aircraft invisible to flight tracking systems seems clear.

 

Land-based military radars gave hints about possible course-deviation in the hour or so after radio contact was lost, but they were unable to track the flight far over the sea. Had it not been for automated engine maintenance signals beamed to a satellite network, no one would have known the plane was still intact and capable of transmitting such signals for six or more hours after it disappeared. 

 

Searchers from nearly two dozen nations are seeking clues as to the airplane’s whereabouts and the fate of the 239 passengers and crew aboard, with the hope that the aircraft’s flight data and cockpit voice recorders can be recovered and analyzed to provide at least some explanation. It is to be hoped that the person who disabled the radios to disguise what happened next wasn’t also able to remove power to the black boxes.

 

The suspicion is growing that someone with considerable knowledge of airline protocols and jetliner operation willfully and with malice violated those procedures to commit a crime: murder, suicide, or hijacking. One question to be considered is: should commercial aircraft be manufactured with additional safeguards to make them tamper-proof? If the conjectured perpetrator was not a member of the flight crew, then what part of the extensive post-9/11 safeguards failed to secure the flight deck? Was the cockpit not secure enough from unwanted intrusion? Was there a breach of security procedures? What more needs to be done?

 

If the perpetrator was considered above suspicion – namely, an airline employee with responsibilities up to and including first officer or pilot – what can be done to prevent a malevolent individual from taking unwarranted control of an aircraft while still allowing a trusted pilot to decide what actions are necessary for safe flight management?

 

Should data tracking devices and radios be designed so they cannot be disabled? Are there instances where powering off such devices is a requirement for safety, such as a critical power failure or fire? I have a sinking feeling that flight system manufacturers will soon be asked to create communication (or surveillance) devices that circumvent interaction with pilots instead of encouraging them.