Airbus says EgyptAir strengthens case for ejectable 'black boxes'

The crash of a missing EgyptAir jet has strengthened the case for "black boxes" that can pop out of an aircraft before an accident, removing the need for challenging searches on the seabed, Airbus' most senior engineer said Tuesday. Investigators are searching in some of the deepest waters of the Mediterranean for flight recorders from an EgyptAir Airbus A320 which crashed on May 19, killing 66 people. The jet's flight recorders or "black boxes" are designed to emit acoustic signals for 30 days after a crash, giving search teams fewer than three weeks to spot them in waters up to 3,000m deep, which is on the edge of their range. "If we have a deployable recorder it will be much easier to find," Airbus Executive VP for Engineering Charles Champion said. "We have been working on that and this only reinforces our overall approach." Ejectable or "deployable" recorders would separate from the tail during a crash and float, emitting a distress signal. Recommended by investigators after an Air France A330 jet crashed in 2009, the idea came to the fore after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight 370 in March 2014. The ICAO, has called for key data to be recoverable in a "timely manner" on airplanes delivered after 2021. But it will be left to airlines and manufacturers to decide how to meet the goal, whether through deployable recorders or other technology such as new homing methods or data streaming.<br/>