兩起相似的事故意味着，目前用於追蹤飛機位置的方法——通過地面的雷達以及衛星——並不足以完成任務。尤其是考慮到無線通訊領域的種種進步，兩架載有數百名乘客的飛機居然會失蹤，這讓人感到不可思議。
從技術角度講，讓飛機實時傳輸飛行數據流是可能的。航空公司一直不願意這麼做，是因為飛行途中發生事故的情況比較少見，而實時傳輸數據流價格不菲。但在馬航370航班失聯帶來的震驚中，航空業和航空監管機構開始意識到改變的必要性。
今年春天，馬來西亞交通部(Transport Ministry)發佈了關於馬航370航班的初步報告，報告中唯一的建議是：希望聯合國下屬的國際民用航空組織(International Civil Aviation Organization)評估引進實時追蹤標準的安全益處。
國際航空運輸協會(International Air Transport Association)公布了航空公司可以自行決定是否採用的標準：在一年時間裡，應該將所有飛機升級到至少每15分鐘報告一次飛機的所在位置，在緊急情況下則須更加頻繁。人們有理由質疑，這個15分鐘的標準過於寬鬆，與實時傳輸的標準相去甚遠。2009年，法國航空(Air France)447航班在大西洋上空失去蹤跡。搜救人員在幾天後發現了飛機殘骸，但卻用了近兩年時間才找到存有飛行數據的「黑匣子」。這架飛機設定的程序是，每10分鐘發送一次位置信息。
15分鐘一次的標準也落後於多數先進的航空公司，包括亞航。據《華爾街日報》(The Wall Street Journal)報道，亞航已經開始要求一些飛機改為每兩分鐘發送一次最新的位置信息。但失蹤的這架飛機不在其列。
一些航空公司反對國際航空運輸協會的升級計劃，認為它操之過急。而對於亞航8501航班來說，這個進程卻太慢了。
翻譯：王湛
For the second time in 2014, a passenger plane vanished midflight. In March, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared and the most expensive search mission in recent aviation history followed. It is still missing. On Sunday, AirAsia Flight 8501 disappeared off Indonesia. It took about two days for search teams to find debris.
These similar incidents suggest that the current system for tracking aircraft — via ground-based radar and satellite — is insufficient. It’s shocking that two planes carrying hundreds of people could go missing, especially given advances in wireless communication.
In the spring, the Malaysia Transport Ministry issued a preliminary report on Flight 370 with a single recommendation: that the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization examine the safety benefits of introducing a standard for real-time tracking.From a technological standpoint, it’s possible to outfit aircraft to stream flight data in real time. Carriers have been reluctant to do so because in-flight disasters are rare, and streaming is costly. But shaken by the loss of Flight 370, the aviation industry and aviation regulators are coming around to the need for change.
The International Air Transport Association has released its own voluntary standard: Within one year’s time, all aircraft should report their positions at least every 15 minutes, and more often during emergencies. There’s reason to suspect that the 15-minute standard, which is far short of live-streaming, is too lax. In 2009, Air France Flight 447 disappeared over the Atlantic. Search crews found debris within days, but it took nearly two years to recover the “black box” containing flight data. That aircraft had been programmed to transmit its position every 10 minutes.
The 15-minute standard also lags behind the most advanced airlines, like AirAsia, which, according to The Wall Street Journal, has already started modifying some of its aircraft to send position updates every 2 minutes. But the plane that disappeared had not been upgraded.
Some carriers have objected to the I.A.T.A.’s upgrade schedule as too aggressive. For Flight 8501, the process was too slow.
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