now, without data connection or connection to a cell tower your gps chip in your phone is not going to be as functional as it would be on the ground. okay. and the radar, the fact that radar is not as effective, i mean, it s because if you re going to be out over a vast body of water, right, you need the towers on which to bounce off signals. right? that s right. you can t put a radar tower in the middle of the ocean which makes it really hard to pick up a plane when it s flying both low or over a vast body of water. and, you know, what typically happens in that situation is that air-traffic controllers will communicate with planes by radio. now, in this case, the aircraft cut off all vocal communications and so that s why we have to rely on things like acars or other forms of nonverbal communication to see where the plane may have gone. very interesting if anyone wants to look this up, there in the washington post from you, brian fung.