Data Link System News Today

Function shortly after the last communication. it could have experienced an electrical problem. the component could have failed or it could have been switched off. we dont know. but what we do know is that the data link system known as acars was stopped from transmitting data, but the unit itself continued to talk to the satellites. that takes specialized knowledge and it takes some deliberate key strokes into the computer system to disable its ability to transmit data. thats a deliberate act by...

Changed the track of the airplane. the other one disabled a data link system known as acars but only the data stopped flowing. the acars system continued to talk to the satellite network. >> right. ive had some pilots say well, you know, a fire could have broken out and that could have disabled the transponders but if a fire broke out, it wouldnt be delivering signals the next eight hours, right? so we can rule out a fire on the plane? >> well, lets not rule anything out. lets do this. lets say ...

In the area with more aircraft, to be in the south china sea. i wouldnt head off to the indian ocean. >> given what we know about the behavior of the plane, do you think it would be a trained pilot at the controls? >> absolutely. we talked about this, i think, a little bit last time, not just because of the flying but the systems involved. i mean, the transponder, turning that off is no big deal, but as i said yesterday, the other equipment, specifically the data link system and others, you have...

Them for some reason, the air traffic controller might say i dont see you, can you recycle your transponder, i dont see you. there are other tracking technologies, this adsb system, i believe this plane had that but the ground stations arent everywhere yet. >> thats my understanding, katie, from talking to a pilot last week, someone who has actually flown this aircraft. the point he made was he called it a data link system and that that system is constantly sending different kinds of information...

If you look at the fact that they didnt communicate on any of the radios, they may have failed or chosen to be unused. we dont know. the transponder ceased to function shortly after the last communication. it could have experienced an electrical problem. the component could have failed or it could have been switched off. we dont know. but what we do know is that the data link system known as acars was stopped from transmitting data, but the unit itself continued to talk to the satellites. that t...

Assumption alone it is simply a matter -- akin to logging on and off the computer. so if the pilot chose to log off the system which is the data link system to the controllers that would be easy enough. there is a secondary system to that likewise -- >> just to clarify on that. the data reporting system was shut down at 1:07 a.m. according to abc news, the transponder shut down at 1:20 a.m. >> yeah, and for the pilot to shut that down, that is reaching over and shutting down one switch. not a di...