It is increasingly difficult to discuss aviation safety without also discussing data. The industry is swimming in the stuff (data) and the pool is getting deeper.
At the 6th Pan American Aviation Safety Summit in June in Medellín, Colombia, Eduardo Iglesias, executive director of the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association, pointed out that a Boeing 777 generates about 1 megabyte (MB) of transmittable data per flight. Multiply that by the size of the fleet and number of operations per day, and assume that similar-generation aircraft likely generate a similar amount of data per flight, and the number of MBs grows quickly.
Now consider that a newer aircraft, the Boeing 787, generates 28 MBs of transmittable data per flight, according to Iglesias, and the amount of data that potentially will be generated just by aircraft systems over the next few decades is staggering. Citing an ICF International figure, Iglesias said aircraft data generation is expected to reach 137 ter…
