Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

==== Flight recorders ====
{{further|Search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370#Underwater locator beacons}}
[[File:Towed pinger locator.svg|thumb|right|Detection of the acoustic signal from the ULBs must be made below the [[thermocline]] and within a maximum range, under nominal conditions, of {{convert|2000-3000|m|abbr=on}}. With a ULB battery life of 30–40 days, searching for the important flight recorders is very difficult without precise coordinates of the location at which the aircraft entered the water.|alt=Diagram of location of ship, thermocline, towed pinger locater at end of tow cable, and blackbox pinger.]]

The intensive and urgent search for the flight recorders in early April 2014, due to the 30-day battery life of the [[underwater locator beacon]]s (ULBs) (or "pingers") attached to them, drew attention to their inherent limitations.{{efn|Regulations required ULBs to transmit a minimum of 30&nbsp;days. The ULBs on the flight recorders on Flight&nbsp;370 had a minimum 30-day battery life after immersion. The ULB manufacturer predicted the maximum battery life was 40&nbsp;days after immersion.<ref name=ATSB />{{Rp|11}}}}<ref name="Rethink planes">{{cite web|last=Stupples|first=David|title=MH370 should make us rethink how we monitor planes|url=http://phys.org/news/2014-04-mh370-rethink-planes.html|website=Phys.org|access-date=20 January 2015|date=9 April 2014|archive-date=22 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150122080644/http://phys.org/news/2014-04-mh370-rethink-planes.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The maximum distance from the ULBs at which the signal can be detected is normally {{convert|2000-3000|m|abbr=on}}, or {{convert|4500|m|ft|abbr=on}} under favourable conditions.<ref name=ATSB />{{Rp|11}} Even if the flight recorders are located, the cockpit voice recorder memory has the capacity to store only two hours of data, continuously recording over the oldest data. This storage capacity complies with regulations, which take account of the fact that it is usually only the data recordings from the last section of a flight that are needed to determine the cause of an accident. However, the events that led to Flight&nbsp;370 diverting from its course, before disappearing, took place more than two hours before the flight ended<!-- mentioned earlier in the article...between 08:19 and 09:15, based on satellite communications -->.<ref name="BBC FR limitations">{{cite news|last=de Castella|first=Tom|title=Malaysia plane: Why black boxes can't always provide the answers|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26721975|access-date=22 January 2015|publisher=BBC News|date=25 March 2014|archive-date=22 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150222042751/http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26721975|url-status=live}}</ref> Given these shortcomings, and the importance of the data stored on flight recorders, Flight&nbsp;370 has brought to attention new technologies that enable [[Flight recorder#After Malaysia Airlines Flight 370|data streaming to the ground]].<ref name="SMH remote blackboxes">{{cite news|last=Allard|first=Tom|title=MH370: Expert demands better black box technology|url=https://www.smh.com.au/world/mh370-expert-demands-better-black-box-technology-20140428-zr0vn.html|access-date=21 January 2015|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=28 April 2014|archive-date=3 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140703031312/http://www.smh.com.au/world/mh370-expert-demands-better-black-box-technology-20140428-zr0vn.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Phys.org blackbox streaming">{{cite web|last=Yu|first=Yijun|title=If we'd used the cloud, we might know where MH370 is now|url=http://phys.org/news/2014-03-cloud-mh370.html#nRlv|website=Phys.org|access-date=21 January 2015|date=19 March 2014|archive-date=22 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150122071128/http://phys.org/news/2014-03-cloud-mh370.html#nRlv|url-status=live}}</ref>

A call to increase the battery life of ULBs was made following the unsuccessful initial search in 2009 for the flight recorders on [[Air France Flight 447]], which were not located until 2011. A formal recommendation that the ULB design be upgraded to offer a longer battery life, or to make the recorders ejectable, had been included in the final report of the board of inquiry into the loss of [[South African Airways Flight 295]] over the Indian Ocean in 1987, but it was not until 2014 that the [[International Civil Aviation Organization|ICAO]] made such a recommendation, with implementation required by 2018.<ref name="SMH remote blackboxes" /> The [[European Aviation Safety Agency]] (EASA) issued new regulations that require the transmitting time of ULBs fitted to aircraft flight recorders to be increased from 30 to 90 days, to be implemented by 1&nbsp;January 2020.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.easa.europa.eu/newsroom-and-events/news/easa-certifies-first-long-range-underwater-locator-device-designed-and|title=EASA certifies first Long Range Underwater Locator Device designed and manufactured in Europe|date=4 April 2017|publisher=European Aviation Safety Agency|access-date=9 February 2019|archive-date=9 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190209232241/https://www.easa.europa.eu/newsroom-and-events/news/easa-certifies-first-long-range-underwater-locator-device-designed-and|url-status=live}}</ref> The agency has also proposed that a new underwater locator beacon with a greater range of transmission should be fitted to aircraft that fly over oceans.<ref name="DW tracking" /> In June 2015, Dukane, a manufacturer of underwater locator beacons, began selling beacons with a 90-day battery life.<ref name="HEICO press release"/>

In March 2016, the ICAO adopted several amendments to the [[Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation|Chicago Convention]] in order to address issues raised by the disappearance of Flight&nbsp;370. These affected aircraft manufactured after 2020, requiring cockpit voice recorders to record at least 25&nbsp;hours of data, to ensure that all phases of a flight are recorded.<ref name="phys.org: ICAO 2016 amendments"/><ref name="ASN: ICAO 2016 amendments"/> Aircraft designs approved after 2020 must incorporate a means of recovering the flight recorders, or the information contained on them, before the recorders sink below the water. This provision is performance-based so that it can be accomplished by different techniques, such as streaming flight recorder data from a stricken aircraft, or using flight recorders that eject from the aircraft and float on the surface of the water.<ref name="ASN: ICAO 2016 amendments"/> The new regulations do not require modifications to be made to existing aircraft.<ref name="phys.org: ICAO 2016 amendments"/>