In article , Greg Farris
wrote:

I like the part about the data being beamed back to the ground for
cross-check. I've often wondered why we still use flight data recorders,
with short (30min) recording capacity,

because those are the old FDR and CVRs. Newer ones record more data
and longer periods. Eventually the old ones will be replaced.

Note that instrumenting an aircraft, especially a non-digital aircraft is
incredibly expensive.

when the data could be compiled
every minute or so, compressed and sent in packets to a ground station,
where it would be easily recoverable.

Consider how much spectrum would be required for this. Who would pay for
the air time and the ground infrastructure?

Consider how few crashes occur each year for larger aircraft.

--
Bob Noel
Looking for a sig the
lawyers will hate