DOHA: As part of efforts to improving safety of passengers, Qatar Airways is looking forward to install a Black box-like automatic electronic system that will help record the flight data on the ground without the interference of the pilot.
“Qatar Airways (QA) is already making an experiment (on a technology) with a supplier, which will enable us to record flight data, from take-off to landing,” said QA Group Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker. “We are working closely with them to testing the system whereby all the flight data that are being recorded in the Black-Box’s data recorder is also received continuously on the ground in our operation centre during the flight.”
Al Baker said once this cutting-edge technology has been proven and all the bugs have been cleared, QA will install this system in its aircraft.
“With the installation of this system, I hope, Qatar Airways will be the first airline in the world to introduce this in all its aircraft.”
“As a member of the board of governors of IATA (International Air Transport Association) we are aggressively perusing matter related to automatic tracking of planes without the control of pilots. There is a task force in IATA to pressure regulators to push for the demand.”
Citing IATA’s efforts to enhance safety measures, he said before the New Delhi accident, in which two aeroplanes had collided, airliners never had TCAS (traffic collision avoidance system).
It was IATA that put on pressure on regulators to insist that airlines ensure all their aircraft are equipped with the TCAS.
“After the Malaysian airline mishap, we are insisting that aircraft should have a system so that they can automatically be tracked from the time of take-off to landing,” he said.
Of late, safety concerns in the aviation industry, including among passengers, have increased manifold especially after the recent crash of AirAsia’s flight No. QZ8501 into the Java Sea on its way from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore, in which all the 162 passengers and crew members died.
The Peninsula
