Investigators and search teams have yet to locate the flight data and cockpit voice recorders from Air France 447, an Airbus A330 aircraft with 228 passengers that inexplicably crashed in the Atlantic Ocean last June. The frustration has led to a call for supplemental ways to collect flight data in the event that the so-called "black boxes" are lost in an accident.

The New York Times reports that French investigators from the BEA and agencies from 44 other European countries are planning to petition the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to change how planes send information while flying over large bodies of water. The agencies want ICAO to consider sending basic flight information to a receiver off of an airplane. Airlines and their systems are growing sophisticated enough to send out some information. In fact, the Airbus A330 that was lost over the Atlantic last summer was sending out airspeed and other anomalies to Air France before the accident.

Soon after the loss of Air France 447, IAPA members expressed similar concerns and frustration regarding the inability of investigators to find the flight data and voice recorders. "Why can't black boxes float?" asked one member. A report by French investigators has also recommended that ICAO change the standards for black boxes so that their locator beacons have a wider range and longer functioning life (from one to three months), according to the New York Times report.

Experts insist that the improvements called for can be done, especially as a supplement for and not a replacement of current systems. The problem with transmitting more data about a flight's performance is the bandwidth and expense required to make that happen. If the technology is implemented, the cost of fitting newer aircraft is one thing. But many airlines may find that retrofitting older ones can become cost-prohibitive given the rare nature of such accidents.

Do you think that enhanced transmissions of aircraft flight data is an investment well worth making? How else can the collection of flight data in the event of an accident be improved?