The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has proposed extending the cockpit voice-recording requirement to 25 hours for all newly manufactured aircraft, the agency announced in a press release on Thursday. Currently, cockpit voice recorders (CVR) – also known as black boxes – retain only two hours of data.
The proposed rule, which aligns with regulations set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), would provide investigators with substantially more data to identify the root causes of incidents and develop effective preventive measures. This extended recording duration would be particularly valuable in investigating longer-duration flights or incidents that may involve multiple contributing factors.
“This rule will give us substantially more data to identify the causes of incidents and help prevent them in the future,” said FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker in a press release.
The proposed rule is scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on Monday, Dec. 4, 2023, and the public will have 60 days to submit comments.
Enhancing Flight Safety
The proposed extension of cockpit voice recorder durations follows recent recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). By capturing and analyzing more comprehensive cockpit communications and audio data, investigators will be better equipped to reconstruct the events leading up to an incident, identify potential human factors, and assess the effectiveness of existing safety protocols.
The proposed regulation follows a string of near-misses at U.S. airports in recent months. These incidents have included losses of separation and runway incursions among others, according to the New York Times.
