Because the recorder might also record information that will increase the airline's liability. Not every one wants a complete set of data about a crash.

What i don't understand is that if there was an emergency situation i guess the pilot would have switched off the autopilot and taken over manual control.

Assuming the crew and passengers were overcome with noxious fumes and consequently passed out, why did the plane continue to fly (on autopilot?) for several hours ?

No one knows what happened to either the crew or passengers so until new information comes along there's no point speculating

I thought right from the start there was no point speculating, but this thread is now 30 pages and 440 posts in, so I'd say most disagree.

It's an internet forum:88) does anyone really expect us to be patient and reasonable when there's all sorts of crazy and far-fetched stuff to fantasize over?:O:

Yes Steve and I do. :D

I dread to think what the corresponding thread at pprune is like...

*goes to check*

Welp, 411 pages and 8205 posts, or one days worth of Jimbunas posting. :03:

Evidence continues to grow. They're now reporting up to 122 objects in this area of the Indian Ocean.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26748146

My gut instinct tells me that should they be searching in the right area then something will eventually turn up.

It would be most helpful if an aircraft was in the vicinity of a satellite sighting but I'm not sure how long a transfer of satellite data would take.

It's a times like these that I wish we still had those lumbering flying boats in service. Imagine a British Beauty like the Saunders-Roe Princess with an endurance of 15 hours flying over the area. :up: It could even set down to pick up debris if the sea conditions permitted.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...rough_1953.jpg

All remaining examples scrapped in 1967 sadly.

^^ :o I had no idea such a plane ever existed. Cool! :rock:

Ban all air planes from flying again, problem solved and no more threads like this one.

So what do we do with the thousands of planes already in service? Clip their wings and turn them into theme park rides? :O:

And Jim, I think all the satellite data there is already days old. It's not the data transfer so much as the analysis that takes time - as far as I understand, it's still something that can't really be done by a machine for objects this size in rough seas, so people have to scour through everything with mk I eyeball.

No, sell off the scrap metal and make millions of £££££ then buy a private island and put signs up beware of the bog monster. :D

Boeing's biggest bath