Preventing Disappearances
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has adopted provisions intended to prevent situations in which commercial aircraft vanish in remote locations.
The provisions — adopted in early March by the ICAO Council — take the form of amendments to Annex 6, Operation of Aircraft, and will take effect over the next five years. They were developed in the aftermath of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, a Boeing 777-200ER that vanished March 8, 2014, after departure from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with 239 passengers and crew. Although several pieces of wreckage have washed ashore, the airplane remains missing.
ICAO said the new provisions involve requirements for aircraft to “carry … distress tracking devices which can autonomously trans…
