More Thoughts On Technology 3

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

It’s been over a day now since the Airbus crashed . Mystery still surrounds the Air France crash.

“Brazilian officials said the area where they think the jet went down is so remote the first military boats will not arrive there until tomorrow morning. Military jets from France and Brazil were crisscrossing the ocean yesterday.”

Various reports indicate that the “black box” may be three miles down in the depth of the ocean, and that the emitter will last for about 30 days.

“Air France wreckage found in Atlantic Ocean, official says“, so debris is visible, narrowing the surface search area.

On the surface (poor choice of phrase, but let’s see where it leads us), the chance of locating a container little bigger than a shoebox is remote.

But the thought strikes me that the most difficult area to search for a black box must be the ocean, and the globe is about 70% covered with water.

It ought not to be beyond our means to have the black box detect when it is soaked, and have that explosively trigger some form of flotation device.

The oceans still cover 70% of the globe; the emitter still lasts only 30 days; but at least we would be looking on the surface for something akin to an orange life raft, holding a black box, and emitting a radio signal.

If not a flashing light.

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