客機為何不實時傳輸飛行數(shù)據(jù)?成本是問題

Cost a Factor in Streaming Flight Data in Real Time

客機為何不實時傳輸飛行數(shù)據(jù)?成本是問題

The crash of a German passenger jet in the French Alps has once again raised the question of whether commercial airplanes should transmit flight information in real time.

發(fā)生于法國境內(nèi)阿爾卑斯山脈的德國客機墜毀事故，再一次提出了民航飛機是否應(yīng)該實時傳送飛行信息的問題。

Investigators in France are trying to figure out why the pilots of the Germanwings Airbus A320 jet remained silent for nearly 10 minutes as their plane descended from its cruising altitude of 37,000 feet and crashed into a mountain on Tuesday. All 144 passengers and six crew members died, according to local authorities.

法國調(diào)查人員正在試圖弄清，周二當(dāng)飛機從37000英尺(約合11300米)的巡航高度下降，直至撞擊山脈的過程中，為何德國之翼 (Germanwings)的這架空客A320飛機的駕駛員，有將近10分鐘時間完全保持沉默。據(jù)當(dāng)?shù)卣Q，144名乘客和6名機組成員全部喪生。

Investigators also said that the memory card from the plane’s other so-called black box, the flight data recorder, was missing, leaving them without reliable information, for now, on the plane’s altitude, speed and location.

調(diào)查人員還表示，這架飛機的另一個“黑匣子”飛行數(shù)據(jù)記錄儀的存儲卡尚未找到，導(dǎo)致目前沒有關(guān)于飛機飛行高速、速度及位置的可靠信息。

The crash comes as the aviation industry, regulators and pilots have been grappling with the question of real-time flight monitoring, particularly since the disappearance last year of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. In 2009, the crash of Air France Flight 447 in the Atlantic highlighted the shortcomings of the existing technology after it took search teams two years to locate the plane’s black boxes.

這場空難發(fā)生之際，航空業(yè)、監(jiān)管機構(gòu)及飛機駕駛員正在為實時航班監(jiān)控問題爭執(zhí)不休，這個問題自去年馬航370航班失蹤以來尤其受到了關(guān)注。2009年，法航447航班在大西洋墜毀后，搜救隊花了兩年時間才找到飛機的黑匣子，突顯了現(xiàn)有技術(shù)的缺陷。

Regulators and airlines are weighing whether the cost of the extra technology needed for such monitoring would be justified given the fact that airline crashes have become increasingly rare. Last year was the safest year on record for commercial flight.

由于飛機墜毀事故越來越少見，監(jiān)管機構(gòu)和航空公司正在權(quán)衡，這類監(jiān)控所需的附加技術(shù)的成本是否合理。去年是有記錄以來，民航飛行最安全的一年。

Still, the crash Tuesday has revived the question of whether pilots should be videotaped during flight.

然而，周二的空難再次提出了一個問題：飛行期間是否應(yīng)該對駕駛員錄像?

This year, the National Transportation Safety Board endorsed the use of cockpit videos as one of eight recommendations to help investigators and emergency medical workers react faster to accidents.

今年，作為八項旨在幫助調(diào)查人員和急救工作者更快應(yīng)對事故的建議之一，駕駛艙錄像得到了美國國家運輸安全委員會(National Transportation Safety Board)的支持。

The safety agency said that all flight data and cockpit voice recorders should have a tamper-resistant mode to broadcast to a ground station enough information to establish a crash site within about seven miles. In practice, this could include either a recorder that would eject at impact or some form of data streaming.

運輸安全委員會表示，所有飛行數(shù)據(jù)和駕駛艙聲音記錄裝置，都應(yīng)該有一種防破壞模式，向地面接收站傳送足夠多的信息，從而確定失事地點，并將誤差控制在方圓7英里(約合11公里)以內(nèi)。在實際操作中，要么需要包含一個受到撞擊時彈出的記錄儀，要么需要發(fā)出某種形式的數(shù)據(jù)流。

It also called for low-frequency devices that can broadcast their location for 90 days; such “pings” are already embedded in two black boxes, but their batteries are required to last only 30 days and their range is limited.

委員會還呼吁，裝配能播報地點長達90天的低頻設(shè)備。發(fā)射這種“ping信號”的信標(biāo)已經(jīng)嵌入了兩個黑匣子，但現(xiàn)有規(guī)章只要求其電池續(xù)航30天，而且其信號覆蓋范圍也有限。

Airlines have argued, however, that real-life monitoring and the transmission of thousands of flight parameters would be too onerous given the number of flights a day and the volume of data that would have to be collected.

然而，航空公司辯稱，考慮到每天航班的數(shù)量及需要收集的數(shù)據(jù)量，實時監(jiān)控和傳送幾千個飛機參數(shù)的工作量將過于繁重。

While modern planes often have sophisticated satellite communications equipment, they are not required to broadcast their position in real time to air traffic controllers. In these cases, airlines require pilots to send satellite messages or radio their position at set periods.

現(xiàn)代飛機雖然通常配備精密的衛(wèi)星通訊設(shè)備，但不需要向空中交通管制實時播報位置。在這種情況下，航空公司要求駕駛員定期發(fā)送衛(wèi)星信息，或用無線電通訊匯報位置。

But this also means that planes flying over oceans or in areas where radar coverage is scarce can vanish from view. This explains why finding Air France Flight 447 was so challenging. Few in the industry expected that another plane would ever disappear entirely and never be found, as has been the case with the Malaysian jet.

但這同時意味著，位于大洋上空或雷達覆蓋稀少區(qū)域的飛機可以從視野中蒸發(fā)。這就解釋了為什么尋找法航447航班的過程如此艱難。業(yè)內(nèi)少有人預(yù)料到，另一架飛機會完全消失，再也無法找到，失蹤的馬航客機就是這樣。

The Air Line Pilots Association, the largest pilot union in the country, is opposed to the use of “cockpit image recorders,” saying that they are an invasion of privacy and that existing technology provides ample information about what happens on a plane.

航空公司飛行員協(xié)會(Air Line Pilots Association)——該國最大的飛行員工會——反對使用“駕駛艙圖像記錄儀”，稱它們侵犯隱私，并稱現(xiàn)有技術(shù)已提供了足夠多的信息記錄飛機上發(fā)生的事情。