The story just gives me chills. Not only because I tend to fly Air France across the Atlantic, but more generally the whole idea of going down in a plane just strikes me as one of the worst ways to go. The Post has a small update, and an online chat, going on now, for another ten minutes, I believe. Included was this:
Philadelphia, Pa.: Why did it take so long to locate a missing plane? I realize that radar doesn't work below a certain altitude and that it is hard to spot something in the ocean. But, still, in this age of global position tracking, isn't there some faster way to better find missing planes? If not, what is needed to create a faster tracking system?
Doug Feaver: I think the big story to come out of this is exactly on your point. Why are we still following airplanes across the ocean with World War II radio technology? as somebody said on NPR this morning. One would think with satellite technology that airline navigation would use it. We're still using ground-based radar for the U.S. airspace system instead of the GPS that can tell me how to get to my driveway.
