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by _pferreir_ 4478 days ago
Most modern aircraft have GPS receivers built-in. They are actually constantly reporting this information to ground stations [1].

I'm not saying that things couldn't be better (and I'm no expert at all) but I doubt that any of these new technologies would have saved MH370.

It's very weird, for instance, that the ground station that reports to flightracker24 lost ADS-B communication with the plane all of a sudden and it's pretty clear from the number of planes that you can see in the area that it is probably not a coverage issue.

[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transponder_(aviation)

1 comments

Is a Boeing 777-200ER (introduced 1997) a modern aircraft in your opinion?

It seems that Flight 370 had GPS tracking (flightradar24.com screenshot): http://www.voanews.com/content/vietnam-navy-official-missing...

Direct link: http://www.flightradar24.com/2014-03-07/16:46/12x/MAS370/2d8...