No failsafe way to stop cockpit sabotage
The US Federal Aviation Authority says there is no effective failsafe way to prevent pilot sabotage.
In a response to a question from the National Transportation Safety Board following the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, the agency said there was no legal or technologically feasible solution to ensure electronics in the cockpit are completely tamper-proof.
The NTSB had asked that black box recorders and other mission critical electronics be designed to prevent them being switched off.
Pilots needed the option to cut the power in the event of overheating or fire, the FAA said.
"There appears to be no safe way to ensure recorders cannot be intentionally disabled while keeping the airplane safe from electrical failure that could become hazardous," FAA Administrator Michael Huerta wrote in a letter to NTSB officials, according to a Bloomberg News report.
The FAA also rejected a call to install video cameras in cockpits, saying there is ‘no compelling evidence’ it would assist any investigation.
The final position of flight MH370 carrying 239 people still remains a mystery, while evidence points to the theory that the plane was deliberately flown off course and its radios and tracking equipment were manually switched off.
The issue of cockpit safety has intensified following the Germanwings crash in the French Alps earlier this year.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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