The news this morning regarding Air Asia Flight QZ8501 is both heartbreaking and infuriating. As has been widely reported in the media, the flight departed Surabaya, Indonesia for a routine two-hour flight to Singapore. Shortly after the pilot requested a route deviation for weather, communication was lost. Search and rescue efforts were paused on Sunday evening due to lack of daylight.

The situation is heartbreaking since in all likelihood the plane experienced some in-flight catastrophe. We grieve for the presumed victims and are saddened for their family, friends and colleagues. The situation is infuriating, however, since it highlights the still-unmet-need for global tracking of all transport category aircraft. Following the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, a task force was formed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and a report was submitted to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) early this month. IATA is a lobbying group that represents airlines and it was hoped the airlines would agree on a solution that could be implemented quickly rather than taking the many years needed for the typical standards-making process.

However, as reported by Airline International News, there has been reluctance on the part of some airlines to make the changes within one year as the report recommends. Furthermore, there has been reluctance to install a system that pilots cannot disable via circuit breakers. Although the MH370 disappearance led to speculation of hijacking and diversion to some remote location, pilots are concerned that an inflight fire due to new equipment could not be extinguished if it could not be disabled via circuit breakers.

However, the European Union’s EC is getting impatient and has threatened to take unilateral action. The airlines have pleaded that the EC show restraint and allow the issue to be resolved through ICAO so that there is a global, rather than regional, solution. The EC’s urgency, though, is perfectly understandable. The first calls for a global tracking solution came in the wake of the Air France Flight 447 tragedy off the coast of Brazil in 2009. The effort stalled until the MH370 disappearance.

With the global availability of both positioning (via satellite systems such as GPS) and communication (via satellite-based communication systems), it is absurd not to have a global aircraft tracking system in place. Short of a complete inflight explosion (e.g., the horrendous tragedy of TWA Flight 800), the system would broadcast the aircraft identity and position to air traffic controllers every half-minute or so. In the case of an incident/accident, search and rescue efforts could thus be focused in precisely the correct location. Furthermore, authorities and the airlines would actually have something to share with the family members other than pained facial expressions.