Technical data transmitted from an aircraft cockpit to a “virtual” black box during unexpected failure-in-flight patterns could help locate the aircraft and identify the possible cause of a crash.

The British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) is recommending this enhancement after last year’s disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 with 239 passengers and crew onboard, says Aerospace-Technology.com.

BALPA general secretary Jim McAuslan is quoted as saying, "Being able to locate a crashed aircraft, understand what has gone wrong and stop it happening again is vital to making every flight safe."

BALPA says that measures should be implemented to ensure data is only used to investigate serious safety incidents and not lead investigators to wrong conclusions.

Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia partnered to trial a new tracking technology to improve aircraft monitoring over remote oceanic areas.

BALPA suggested airlines and regulators create minimum international tracking standards to track aircraft globally.