The US government is considering acquiring cockpit video cameras to download real-time images of pilots working in the cockpit. The argument is that it would give early warning to ground-based agencies of hijackings or other problems on board commercial flights.
Boeing has demonstrated a satellite-linked system to the Federal Aviation Administration in two test flights this year. The company has described the trials as "successful".
Most US pilots have fiercely opposed cameras in cockpits as an infringement of their privacy. More importantly, they fear that agencies on the ground could misinterpret video images and give orders based on incomplete information, or worse still, scramble fighters armed ready to shoot the aircraft down.
Those in favour of a video system argue it would make air travel safer by reducing the consequences of terrorism or hijacking, and many argue strongly that it would help determine what went wrong in an accident, being as valuable to investigators as the introduction of the cockpit voice recorder, which pilots had also once opposed as intrusive.
Source: Flight International
