A NEW method that improves aircraft tracking over oceans has gone into testing in Australia, and will eventually reach Malaysia and Indonesia for trials.
According to AFP, Australia said over the weekend that the system tracks aircraft more closely than before, with the minimum tracking rate going from 30- and 40-minute intervals to 15 minutes.
In the event that an aircraft veers off-track by over 200 feet from assigned level or two nautical miles from its flight path, the system increases the frequency of tracking to every five minutes, or continuously.
A point to note is that the system uses automatic dependent surveillance contract (ADSC) technology, which is already employed by longhaul jets such as Boeing’s 380, 777, 330, 340 and 350 models.
Australian deputy prime minister, Warren Truss, was quoted by AFP as saying that 90 per cent of longhaul passenger aircraft in the world use ADSC and the new method would allow air traffic control to react more quickly in the event of abnormal circumstances.
Trials will begin at Brisbane’s air traffic services centre, and eventually extend to Melbourne, Indonesia and Malaysia.
The news comes almost one year after Malaysia Airlines’ flight MH370 bound for Beijing disappeared, with no trace of the vanished aircraft since. Reuters today reported that the massive ongoing search for the downed aircraft, conducted by Australia, China and Malaysia, may be called off soon.
In the aftermath of MH370 and a host of other aviation disasters in 2014, international aviation bodies like ICAO and IATA have called for better systems of aircraft tracking and improved information sharing frameworks. A system that allows minute-by-minute tracking in emergency circumstances could become the norm by 2016, according to media reports.
