It’s time for the federal government to require real-time video feeds in all large planes. The National Transportation Safety Board recommended video cameras 15 years ago. Since then, we’ve had several plane crashes, including the four hijacked 9/11 planes. In 2009, Air France Flight 447 slammed into the Atlantic, killing 228. For two years, no one knew why, until the black boxes were found 2.5 miles below the surface. If those boxes had never been found, we would have had no data.

The voice recorder from the Germanwings flight that crashed into the French Alps was damaged. If it had been unusable, we would never have known that the pilot was banging on the cockpit door.

Malaysia Flight 370, with 239 aboard, disappeared in 2014 and has never been found. No one knows what happened.

Video would eliminate almost all the guessing. It would provide clear answers to grieving relatives. And it would help the industry prevent similar accidents in the future through improved technology and pilot training, saving many lives.

Matthew Barry

Issaquah