World nations struck a landmark deal Wednesday on using satellites to track flights, which could prove key to preventing a repeat of the mysterious disappearance of flight MH370 in March 2014. Countries reached an accord at a conference hosted by the UN's International Telecommunication Union (ITU) that aimed to improve on the current civilian flight-tracking system which relies on ground-based radars.
"In reaching this agreement... ITU has responded in record time to the expectations of the global community on the major issue concerning global flight tracking," the organisation's secretary general, Houlin Zhao, said in a statement.
The ITU statement made clear the deal was driven by the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 which was lost en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people onboard. That tragedy "spurred worldwide discussions on global flight tracking and the need for coordinated action," the organisation said. Representatives of more than 160 nations attended the talks, known as the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC).
http://phys.org/news/2015-11-world-nations-landmark-satellites-track.html
[Also Covered By]: Daily Mail
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 12 2015, @06:02PM
The text implies that 160 nations came together to address this issue. Those nations got together for the WRC of which this is one of many issues.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday November 12 2015, @06:37PM
Sounds like they allocated some spectrum to it, basically. (All I read was the press-release)
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday November 12 2015, @06:36PM
why don't we just reach a 'landmark deal' to stop creating and selling/trading weapons and try to just GET THE FECK ALONG?!?!
Oh, if wishes were horses, i'd have what Scotty said.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by Tork on Thursday November 12 2015, @06:56PM
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 12 2015, @07:06PM
because not everyone will respect that deal.
as an example, I'm confident there is gun crime in the UK, even though "there is a deal" that civilians and the police should not be armed.
as a sidenote, if I were in control (i.e. god-like power) I would provide everyone with a ridiculously powerful and fast robot that would respect Asimov's laws (or a very similar set of laws), except that they couldn't take any orders from people. that would basically mean violence between humans would be de facto impossible (since I would also make the robots smart enough to detect when someone is building a weapon that can destroy them).
but I'm not in control.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 13 2015, @09:29AM
What would the robot do when it recognized that having a robot guard (because that's what your robots would be) around you all the time harms you mentally?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday November 12 2015, @07:39PM
Suppose an aircraft went down over the ocean, deviating from its flight path, for reasons not related to hijacking or other sabotage. Sensors or instruments can go wonky, autopilot can go wonky, or generators and power systems could fail.
Knowing where aircraft are is and being able to quickly hone in on the wreckage will be reassuring to those seeking closure and bolstering confidence that any survivors will be promptly rescued. It's more reassuring to those who may fly as well as those who do fly and those whose family flies.
In short, I think this is a good idea. But yeah, those two Malaysia wrecks smell funnier than RMS' tasty, tasty toejam.
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Friday November 13 2015, @12:41AM
What about AF447?
MH17 was shot down. By Ukriane, Russia, rebels, terrorists, counterterrorists, the US, Israel, Martians, whoever.
MH370 was no more related to MH17 than AF447 was, or Helios Airways 522.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 12 2015, @07:50PM
It isn't about getting along. It is about those who want to remain in control (and want more control) and those who are controlled.
International elements benefit greatly from wars and conflict. Healthy populations with enough to eat and and maintain a decent living are hard to control. A population that gets just enough to eat to stay alive and barely gets by is less of a threat.
Wars and conflict are too important an opportunity to waste. If two peoples want to kill each other and become sacrificial lambs, give them the opportunity; no need to invade them in order to subjugate them.
If you are not an internationalist, then you are a victim of the parasitic internationalists.
(Score: 2) by K_benzoate on Thursday November 12 2015, @10:59PM
What do you do with people who unilaterally defect from that deal? Remember, you don't have any weapons now--and they do.
Climate change is real and primarily caused by human activity.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday November 12 2015, @11:56PM
Eat them before they can use them.
Eat them and blame it on those fine young cannibals... yes...
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 12 2015, @07:33PM
An airplane with all passengers and crew on-board were sacrificed in order for this global tracking to be made official. The disappearance of a flight has been blown out of proportion to be able to track everything that flies.
As if their current tracking satellites weren't already tracking everything over and under the ground all the time...
What is going to be tracked next globally through "coordinated international action"? Cars? People? Thoughts?
This coordinated international action is the next minor step on the road to one-world government.
Something smells funny in the way things are being done through "coordinated global action" to track you. For example: You fly a small plane to a small island in order to survive the zombie apocalypse or the coming revolution or whatever and you will be tracked and reported to their headquarters in real time and you and your plane will be blown out of the sky through "coordinated global action".
(Score: 1) by Francis on Thursday November 12 2015, @08:34PM
That's ridiculous, we all know that there was no plane. The "plane" was just a set on the sound stage next to the one they're prepping for when humans go to Mars.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 12 2015, @08:54PM
If you're not resourceful enough to disable your plane's ADS-B transmitter (or to avoid having one fitted), you may not be resourceful enough to survive in isolation on a small island. Although I suppose it takes all kinds.