BEYOND THE BLACK BOX

Krishna M. Kavi focuses on the June 1, 2009 Air France Flight 447 crash into the Atlantic Ocean. The cause of the crash could not be determined due to the missing black box. Once the data are logged on the ground, expert systems could sift through vast troves of historical information to spot abnormal and possibly catastrophic behaviors. Designing these systems is the main challenge, for it goes beyond just juggling data such a system must emulate human judgment. Armed with such compressed data, expert systems and human experts working in tandem could identify recurring errors due to design problems, maintenance problems, pilot training, weather conditions, and airport or runway conditions. The knowledge gained could also be used for training pilots, air-traffic controllers, and accident investigators.