The sudden disappearance of Malaysia Airlines aircraft from the radar and announcement of a fatal accident by country’s prime minister has rattled the aviation industry worldwide. A clamor for strict safety measures is growing ever since. The echo is now loud and clear. Bradley Tilden, CEO of Alaska Airlines, while speaking to mediapersons recently said that the use of GPS technology for all aircrafts is the need of the hour.

Media reports quoted Tilden as saying that the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 demonstrates that all the airlines across the world need to equip their aircrafts with GPS connectivity. He said that this is the paramount need of the hour.

According to Tilden, the airlines basically know only of the airspace but are little or ill equipped when it comes to surveillance of their aircrafts while they are flying. He said that the technology for surveillance is already in place and the only question remains as to when the airlines move to this ‘next generation’ air traffic control. He said that there are many airlines, including Alaska Airlines, which are equipped or ready to be equipped with the technology. In fact, all the airlines in the world need to equip their aircrafts with this new technology.

Tilden said that not much is known about what actually happen to Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 ever since its disappearance on March 8. This also raises a pertinent question whether the GPS connectivity would have proved to be of great help to the officials to locate the missing aircraft.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration mandates that all the domestic carriers should make compulsory use of global positioning systems. However, the use of GPS is not mandatory for aircrafts globally at present.