KUALA LUMPUR: EIGHT months after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, international aviation officials are now set to announce a global standard in commercial airlines tracking next month.
Wall Street Journal (WSJ), in its report yesterday, said the move was meant to track the location of commercial flights which deviate from their paths at least once per minute.
Although the mechanics have not been discussed in detail, the New Straits Times believes this includes real-time telemetry to ground stations. This was following Malaysia’s active participation at the 203rd Session of the ICAO council in Montreal, Canada, where Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai had presented the proposal for live aircraft tracking.
Currently, in-flight data is stored on board the in-flight data recorder.
The proposal was given the green light by the United Nations (UN), which required all commercial flights to automatically report their respective positions every 15 minutes or less, and was backed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), an UN arm.
This standard, when implemented, will see the first truly universal, real-time tracking system for commercial aircraft that operate over water, isolated polar regions and other areas lacking ground-based radar coverage.
In October, Liow had called for the ICAO to establish requirements for real-time global tracking of commercial aircraft; extend transmission life of Underwater Locator Beacons installed in flight recorders on all commercial aircraft; require mandatory timely reporting of relevant information regarding risks to the ICAO by member states; and for the ICAO to establish a global protocol to disseminate the information to member states and airlines.
“As we stand in solidarity with the families of the passengers and crew who were lost, we must now move forward with a renewed sense of purpose to establish the next generation of safety and security standards in international civil aviation,” Liow said in his address at the ICAO council meeting.
He also urged the ICAO not to delay the implementation of the changes needed in improving the way global commercial aviation operated.
“On an average day, more than eight million people fly and it would be nothing short of negligent on our part to waste one more day without implementing policies and procedures to help keep them safe.”
Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Abdul Aziz Kaprawi said the report by WSJ was a good development considering that the Malaysian government recommended the ICAO to set the tracking system in place.
“This system can easily control and manage commercial airlines better, as well as avoid tragedies, such as MH370, from recurring.”
Aziz added that he hoped the ICAO would make it mandatory for all commercial airlines to use the tracking system.
In May, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, in an article published by WSJ, had called for international aviation regulators to implement real-time tracking of airliners to prevent a recurrence of the baffling disappearance of flight MH370.