WTF, $15,000 is too steep a cost and nobody can present a strong enough business case to upgrade a fleet of airliners to Internet based real time black box data collection?  As usual, it’s never impossible.  Technology can do the job if it weren’t for greedy business men and slacking politicians.

So, here’s a business case for you… “The ability to collect data in real time from an airplane in flight, essentially collecting all the info a black box would collect and then some can save hundreds of lives and billions of dollars”.  What if the malfunction that causes a plane to crash can never be identified because its 20,000 ft under the sea, then one month later another plane crashes as a result of the same defects?  Hmm, yes, hundreds of lives can be saved as well as the cost for the search and rescue of said plane and its replacement.

The real question is, what dollar amount do the airlines actually factor into the life of a human being?  They do risk analysis, and that number must exist.