# Video cameras on airplanes **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 19, 2001, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-cameras-on-airplanes/82546 "2001-09-19T06:26:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-cameras-on-airplanes/82546/1 "2001-09-19T06:26:58Z")
It seems like a video recording of an airplane’s cabin could be extremely valuable in finding out what caused a plane to go down, not just in hijackings but also in the event of a mechanical failure. If we could see what happened on those planes last Tuesday, we could identify the terrorists. Has this been tried before? If so, how well does it work, and if not, why not? ---
**Author:** ![Nenya\_Elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@Nenya\_Elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nenya_Elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-cameras-on-airplanes/82546/2 "2001-09-19T09:03:19Z")
I think the problem would be that, in situations where video recordings would be most useful (like this week), any video recorder or tape would be fried anyway. You would have to have some kind of equivalent to the ‘black box’ sound recorders in order for the images to survive the impact and extreme heat from an the explosion in a crash. ---
**Author:** ![AndyJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8491ac/32.png) [@AndyJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndyJ)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-cameras-on-airplanes/82546/3 "2001-09-19T09:10:04Z")
Surly they could just have a camera with the wires going into a black box style housing. The footage could be recorded onto a hard disk type device. Just like a TiVo does it. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-cameras-on-airplanes/82546/4 "2001-09-19T09:13:42Z")
What about if the storage was digital, rather than tape, and the storage media were set in a sold block of something like epoxy? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-cameras-on-airplanes/82546/5 "2001-09-19T09:14:53Z")
By ‘digital’, I mean solid-state. ---
**Author:** ![puk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ea5d25/32.png) [@puk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puk)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-cameras-on-airplanes/82546/6 "2001-09-19T10:01:21Z")
the black box and the cockpit voice recorder pretty much register everything that happens on the plane, including indications of mechanical failures and information from allmost all instruments in the cockpit. The only thing that a cctv type black box would add is shots of the pilot (or whoever’s sitting in his seat). I don’t think these shots would really add anything usefull when establishing the cause of a crash. Using cctv to identify the hijackers is also can also be circumvented by wearing a mask of some kind. All-in-all, you have a very expensive piece of equipment that doesn’t really do anything usefull. ---
**Author:** ![RAWisSYDNEY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4491bb/32.png) [@RAWisSYDNEY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RAWisSYDNEY)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-cameras-on-airplanes/82546/7 "2001-09-19T11:22:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by puk \* > \*\*the black box and the cockpit voice recorder pretty much register everything that happens on the plane, including indications of mechanical failures and information from allmost all instruments in the cockpit. The only thing that a cctv type black box would add is shots of the pilot (or whoever’s sitting in his seat). I don’t think these shots would really add anything usefull when establishing the cause of a crash. > > Using cctv to identify the hijackers is also can also be circumvented by wearing a mask of some kind. > > All-in-all, you have a very expensive piece of equipment that doesn’t really do anything usefull. \*\* i think they mean so we actually know what happened ont he flight (how they held the people up, etc) so maybe it would help to prevent this in the future. ---
**Author:** ![lucwarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@lucwarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lucwarm)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-cameras-on-airplanes/82546/8 "2001-09-19T13:16:15Z")
As I recall (can anyone confirm this?), there has been a proposal kicking around for a couple years now to put videocameras in airplane cockpits. One of the justifications was that it would allow investigators to see which controls were touched/used by the crew. The pilots are/were very much against it - nobody likes the possibility of having their actions scrutinized. I imagine that the idea will be revisited in light of last week’s tragedy. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-cameras-on-airplanes/82546/9 "2001-09-19T13:20:16Z")
i am sure video images would add to the evidence and aid in the investigations…maybe they don’t use it because it’s expensive to have on each flight… [hijack] could the video images and the fdr and cvr data be stored at ground control, remotely recorded types, so no matter how badly the plane is damaged the data was recorded by ground control ? i know this would be expensive…but it would remove the need to go hunting for black boxes each time… [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![lucwarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@lucwarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lucwarm)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-cameras-on-airplanes/82546/10 "2001-09-19T13:22:49Z")
And here’s a link: [http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:zfdW71S6Bos:www.speakout.com/Content/DailyBriefing/2561/+video+cockpit&hl=en](http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:zfdW71S6Bos:www.speakout.com/Content/DailyBriefing/2561/+video+cockpit&hl=en) ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-cameras-on-airplanes/82546/11 "2001-09-19T18:15:19Z")
**puk** > [@](#): > > Using cctv to identify the hijackers is also can also be circumvented by wearing a mask of some kind. They could identify which seat he was in, at least, and match that up to the name, credit card, and driver’s license he used to check in. And as long as the flight attendants don’t let anyone board the plane wearing a mask, an appropriately placed camera would be able to catch his face as he walked to his seat. ---
**Author:** ![KeithB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/48db29/32.png) [@KeithB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KeithB)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-cameras-on-airplanes/82546/12 "2001-09-19T18:19:21Z")
I was thinking that a datalink to the ground would be better. A relatively low bandwidth picture – that might not even allow you to ID the perps – could be sent down. 24 hours after the flight it would be erased. This would be backup to the black-boxes.