VOA双语新闻：2、马航空难一周年 各界呼吁革新飞机设计

马航空难一周年 各界呼吁革新飞机设计

On March 8, 2014 a Malaysia Airlines flight took off from Kuala Lumpur enroute to Beijing. All transmission from the plane ended 40 minutes after take-off. The plane has not been found and is presumed to have crashed into the ocean. Exactly what happened and whether this type of incident could occur again remain unresolved issues.

2014年3月8号，马航370航班从吉隆坡飞往北京，飞机起飞40分钟后，所有联络讯号全部消失。这架飞机迄今还没有被找到，据认为已经沉到海底。当时究竟发生了什么、这类事件是否还会发生？仍然引人关注。

“Good night -- Malaysian 370.” Those were the last words heard from a Malaysia Airlines plane before it vanished from radar 1. A year later, the plane and the 239 people on board have not been found.

“晚安，马航370航班” – 这是该航班从雷达上消失之前发出的最后一句话。一年过去了，飞机和机上的239个人都还没有被找到。

U.S. commercial airline pilot Captain Ian Gebow said the traditional 30-minute to 60-minute communication between plane and ground needs to be constant when planes are over wide bodies of water when radar is sparse 2. "What we really need is real-time data tracking for when an act occurs," he said.

有人说： “真正需要的是能够实时记录事情发生时所有信息的系统。”有人说：“这种情况实属罕见。”还有人说：“到目前为止，还没有采取任何措施，保证这类事件不再发生。”

"We are creating a generation of pilots who are monitors, as opposed to professional aviators 3 ... a generation of pilots who use automation as a crutch 4 rather than an aide," said Gebow.

ICAO seeks changes

The International Civil Aviation Organization [ICAO], which sets global standards for the airline industry, is recommending that planes report their positions every 15 minutes and every minute during distress 5.

国际民航组织负责设定国际航空标准。马航事故之后，这一组织建议所有飞机在正常情况下每15分钟、紧急情况下每分钟报告一次所在位置。

Less than an hour after MH 370 departed Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, all communication from the plane ceased, and it dropped off radar. The first search area was along the original flight path. But the search areas kept shifting, especially after Malaysian military radar found a final transmission further north -- and that the plane could have flown another seven hours.

马航370航班从吉隆坡起飞后不到一个小时，飞机同外界的所有通讯都停止了，并从雷达上消失。最初的搜寻区域是在通讯中断的地方，但是后来搜寻区域一直在变化，尤其是在马来西亚军用雷达发现飞机最后传出的讯号来自更为北部的地区之后，而且飞机又继续飞行了七个小时。

The discrepancy 6 exists because traditional radar does not track over oceans, and the plane was only equipped to report its location every 60 minutes.

传统雷达系统不能进行海上跟踪，而且失踪马航客机上的设备只是每60分钟报告一次位置，所以这当中存在差异。

ICAO Council President Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu spoke 7 via Skype. "Once we implement 8 this system and we're able to track flights every one minute, that will increase our ability to locate flights."

国际民航组织负责人阿里乌在接受采访的时候说：“这一系统付诸实施以后，每分钟都能够跟踪飞机的去向，这将有助于确认航班的具体位置。”

"Again, I can say this organization is one of 191 member states. We set global standards for harmonized implementation 9. It is necessary for us to get all our members to agree to a particular standard that we have to put in place," said Aliu.

Better technology

Underwater devices searched the ocean floor for MH370, hoping to hear a signal from the flight data recorders. But the recorder batteries only last 30 days. The US Federal Aviation Administration and other global organizations are extending the battery requirements to 90 days, effective in five years.

在搜寻马航370的过程中，还使用了水下搜寻仪器，以期获取飞机数据记录器黑匣子的讯号。但是黑匣子的电池只能工作30天。美国联邦航空管理局和其他国际机构目前要求电池要能够工作90天，五年后开始实施。

This also is a problem. Search vehicles heard pinging sounds they thought were coming from the plane, but were actually from marine 10 life. Former FAA Accident Investigator 11 David Soucie has written a book on MH370.

另外，搜寻人员一度以为听到了失踪班机上传来的音波，但是后来发现，这些音波来自海底生物。美国联邦航空管理局的前事故调查员苏奇专门就马航370航班事件写了一本书。他建议，改变飞机使用的声波。

He suggests the frequency be changed. “...So that it’s a distinguishable pattern. It’s a pattern that may be able to have a Morse Code situation that tells us what aircraft it actually came from or at least that was from an aircraft,” he said.

他说：“这样飞机有独特的可分辨声波，或许像摩斯密码那样，让我们能知道那些声波是从哪架飞机、或至少是从一架飞机上传来的。”

Experts also suggest unsinkable flight recorders.

还有专家建议飞行数据记录器使用不沉材料。

“If you get it floating on the surface,with some sort of locator, both visually and by electronic means, I think that will both expedite the recovery process and also save millions upon millions of dollars in the search,” said Captain Gebow.

美国民航飞行员盖宝说：“如果记录器一直飘在水上，而且有某种能够看到或者被电子装置搜索到的装置，那将大大加快整个找寻过程，并且能够节省下搜寻过程要花费的千百万美元。”

Already the MH370 search is the most expensive in aviation history -- estimated at more than $90 million.

马航370的搜寻已经是飞行历史上耗资最多的，估计已达九千多万美元。

"It's a matter of how much money you want to spend to find an aircraft that has crashed in the middle of the ocean," said Soucie.

Experts agree missing aircraft are rare, but could happen again. They say the probability drops once all this new technology is installed on new planes. That will happen seven years from now.

专家认为，航班失踪确实罕见，但是仍有可能发生。上述科技被新的飞机采用后，失踪的可能性将会降低。不过这还需要几年的时间。