Nevertheless, it remains astonishing that it is not possible to locate a lost aircraft with all the modern technology available. When you lose your iPhone or your Samsung Galaxy, it is possible to locate it immediately. The same for a stolen Mercedes or BMW. Why not a much bigger aircraft?KriVa wrote:Also, quite a few flight parameters (altitude, speed, heading,...) are already being sent automatically by modern civil jetliners, through ADS-B. I'm not sure whether there is a central storage of this data (it would be a LOT of data, of course), but instances like Flightradar24 do keep some kind of record. (The last parameter FR24 received was an ADS-B signal at 0 ft, if I remember correctly.)
As for FR24, I think the last signal received was at 35,000 ft.