Malaysia recommends new real-time plane tracking system in MH370 report

Malaysia’s Transportation Ministry has published a preliminary report on flight MH370, reiterating that the plane that went missing in early March is believed to have crashed into the Indian Ocean after disappearing from communication systems and veering far off course shortly into its journey. The report concludes with a recommendation for avoiding such situations in the future: implementing a tracking system that could follow planes in real time.

The ministry isn’t actually about to implement this, however. It’s instead recommending that the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization — an agency that helps to develop aviation best practices — begin to conduct its own examination of the potential benefits of creating a standard for real-time tracking of commercial aircraft. Malaysia is effectively shifting the responsibility for safety practices over to the agency, though it isn’t necessarily the only one to blame either. High costs have made tracking systems an unpopular option, despite being feasible for some time now.