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A deal reached at a U.N. meeting on Wednesday opens the way for satellite tracking of airliners, a major breakthrough motivated by the mystery disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines jetliner last year.
The agreement allows nations to set aside radio frequencies so that airplanes can be tracked by satellite — not just from the ground.
As CBS News’ Amanda Schupak reported in March, just as you lose cell phone service when you go from the city into the woods, ground control can lose track of planes as they venture over vast regions of the globe that lack radar towers, including the southern Indian Ocean,where it is believed MH370 went down.