Mon, Mar 10, 2008
Mandates Changes To 'Black Boxes' On Aircraft With 10 Seats Or
More
The Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) has mandated significant upgrades to aircraft cockpit voice
and flight data recorders — improvements that will enable
investigators to retrieve more data from accidents and incidents
requiring investigation.
“Because this is the safest period in aviation history, we
now have to be able to analyze each accident in greater
detail,” said Robert A. Sturgell, the FAA’s acting
administrator. “These enhancements will give us more
information about the causes of accidents and find ways to avoid
them in the future.”
Under the final rule, which affects manufacturers and operators
of airplanes and helicopters with 10 or more seats, all voice
recorders must capture the last two hours of cockpit audio instead
of the current 15 to 30 minutes. The new rule also requires an
independent backup power source for the voice recorders to allow
continued recording for nine to 11 minutes if all aircraft power
sources are lost or interrupted. Voice recorders also must use
solid state technology instead of magnetic tape, which is
vulnerable to damage and loss of reliability.
Airplanes (but not helicopters) operating under Parts 121, 125
or 135 of FAA regulations will have to retrofit some equipment by
March 7, 2012. The rule also mandates these enhancements on all
newly built aircraft and helicopters after March 7, 2010.
The new rule mandates that the recorders measure aircraft data
more frequently than is now required, including the
aircraft’s primary flight control movements and the
pilots’ movement of the controls. The data recorders also
must retain the last 25 hours of recorded information. These
provisions affect new aircraft manufactured after March 7,
2010.
The final rule formalizes current FAA policy that voice and data
recorders must be housed in separate units (excluding helicopters)
and that no single electrical failure can disable the units. The
rule also allows operators who install two combined voice and data
recorders to mount one of those combined recorders in the forward
part of the aircraft.
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