I fail to see why the airline industry still uses the so-called black boxes with no other system of problem reporting. There is, in my opinion, absolutely no reason that all of this data cannot be transmitted to many places on the ground in real time. I am not saying that the black boxes be eliminated on the aircraft, just not relied on as the only source of information. This is not beyond our current technological ability.
Also, since a large number of aircraft accidents occur on landings and takeoffs, why don’t airports have video cameras on the runways at all times?
The satellite pings were for the service to which Malaysia Airlines chose not to subscribe. I they had subscribed, substantial data on the plane's performance would have been transmitted every half hour. Since it is satellite bandwidth, this service is expensive. One of the fixes being considered is to make this service mandatory across the industry.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 makes it clear: we need to rethink black boxes | Stephen Trimble
http://gu.com/p/3ndve