My neighbor, a retired airline captain, said we're too focused on the black boxes after a crash

We were talking about that incident in Phoenix last month, and he said his crew always cared more about the real-time data from the ACARS messages than the final CVR/FDR readout. He argued that by the time we get the boxes, the story is already written, but the ACARS can show the system failures as they happened. It made me think, are we putting all our diagnostic eggs in one basket waiting for the recorders? How many of you guys actually get to work with the ACARS data stream during troubleshooting, not just after the fact?

3 comments

3 Comments

john_lopez2d ago

His point about real-time data is why we push so hard for satellite streaming of flight data.

kevinallen2d ago

Remember that Air France flight over the Atlantic where they lost an engine part? Satellites caught the whole data stream. Without it, they'd have been guessing for hours. Meanwhile, some regional jets still send bursts of data every few minutes like a broken text message. It's 2024 and we're waiting for planes to finish their sentences.

the_finley2d ago

Read an article about how some airlines use ACARS for live engine monitoring... seems like that real-time view could spot trends before they become big problems.