Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE)

Specialists are launching a fourth undersea search effort next week for the plane’s so-called black boxes, or flight recorders.

‘We are convinced if we find the black boxes we’ll be able to reconstruct what really happened on this tragic flight Air France 447,’ Enders said. Airbus officials say the search is a company priority.

Air France and Airbus will finance the estimated $12.5 million cost of the new search, in which three advanced underwater robots will scour the mountainous ocean floor between Brazil and western Africa, in depths of up to 4,000 meters (13,120 feet).

Already $27.5 million has been spent on three previous search attempts that failed to find Flight 447’s voice and data recorders.  Daily Mail

Aviation safety proponents have argued that it’s time to start replacing black boxes with satellite systems that stream critical data real time. Similarly, as we have previously suggested, it’s time for real time monitoring of wellhead and BOP pressures and functions. This relatively inexpensive improvement would support testing and maintenance programs, improve our understanding of BOP performance, assist with well control decisions, and facilitate investigations.