GAO: Challenges Remain on Aircraft Tracking and Data
Congress needs to understand more clearly the strengths and weaknesses of the current proposals to enhance both tracking and data recovery efforts.

A new report—15-443—from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released last week looks closely at the challenges that remain in accurately tracking aircraft anywhere on the face of the earth, despite recent proposals to enhance flight tracking and the capturing of critical operational data from threatened aircraft before they fly beyond the range of communications. The report was initiated, in part, by the losses of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and Air France Flight 447. MH370 has yet to be found, and locating the flight data recorders from AF447 took two years and cost $40 million.