To expedite and automate that process, Teledyne Technologies (NYSE: TDY) has released its Wireless GroundLink application, which allows flight data to be transmitted wirelessly to the airline's flight data processing center upon the safe touchdown of an aircraft.

The recorder in question is not the famous black box device that inevitably survives crashes, but a secondary unit called the "quick-access recorder." Teledyne Controls, the unit of Teledyne Technologies that makes Wireless GroundLink, has essentially made a quick-access recorder that also transmits its data wirelessly.

"You can take the current QAR out of a plane and plug this one right in," Tamas Igloi, marketing director of flight data services for Teledyne Controls, told Wireless NewsFactor.

In announcing the product, Teledyne reported that air-safety poster child Qantas Airlines has been using the system on one of its Boeing 747s, and the airline's Sydney headquarters has successfully downloaded information from more than 40 flight legs via GroundLink.

Risk Management

The flight data includes monitoring of engine conditions and general performance data. The current standard has the data being recorded on optical disks, tapes or PC cards that must be manually removed from the plane and shipped to the airline's operations center. It is a system with numerous risks of error, loss and delay.

Teledyne has automated the process by transmitting the data via existing cellular/PCS networks, eliminating any need to install costly dedicated infrastructure at airports.

"Wireless GroundLink significantly reduces the risk of data loss and delays in information during processing," said Robert Mehrabian, chairman, president and chief executive of Teledyne Technologies.

Timely Evaluation of Airworthiness

"Until now, optical disks and PC cards were used to process flight information, resulting in the potential for data loss and delays in information processing," Mehrabian said. "Immediately upon arrival, flight operations and engineering can begin analyzing the flight data to evaluate an aircraft's airworthiness, thereby improving the effectiveness of the airline's safety operations."

A Qantas representative spoke highly of the test effort.

"Qantas has maintained a Flight Operations Quality Assurance program for the past 12 years," explained Greg Gibbens, Qantas' manager of flight safety systems.

"While Quick Access Recorder airborne technology has advanced considerably during this period," Gibbens said, "a significant data loss problem remains within the process system when data is sourced from individual media such as tapes, disks and PC cards. To date, the trial operation has been extremely successful -- data return has been noted to be consistently at 100 percent of expectations."

Igloi said the company wants the GroundLink unit to be installed by airlines in current craft -- and eventually to be standard equipment on planes rolling off manufacturers' assembly lines. He said Teledyne Controls is talking with airlines right now, but he could not give details. He said the Wireless GroundLink's cost is comparable to that of a standard quick-access recorder. It's slightly more expensive because of its transmission capability, he said, but not much more so.

"We have to be competitive, after all," he said.