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Two Congressmen in Tennessee have weighed in on the FAA's proposed rulemaking to increase the duration of cockpit voice recordings from two hours to 25. On Nov. 30 the FAA announced its proposal to extend the CVR requirement to 25 hours for all newly manufactured aircraft in response to a recommendation the NTSB has been pushing since 2018. Congressmen Steve Cohen and Tim Burchett issued a press release on Tuesday, stating that they strongly support the proposal but urge the FAA to also publish a rule to require that CVR devices can evacuate the fuselage during a crash and float to the surface to avoid underwater search and recovery.
In May 2023 Cohen and Burchett introduced the Safe Aviation and Flight Enhancement (SAFE) Act to include both provisions.
"As Members of the Aviation Subcommittee and as the sponsors of H.R. 3634, the Safe Aviation Flight Enhancement (SAFE) Act of 2023, we have been working with our colleagues to advocate for long overdue and important safety upgrades to U.S. flight data and CVR regulations," Burchett and Cohen said.RELATED STORIES:FAA follows NTSB recommendation, proposes requiring 25-hour cockpit voice recordersFAA proposes CVR recording extension, response to NTSB 'Most Wanted' list of recommendationsNTSB retires Most Wanted List after over 30 years
As part of their comments, the Congressmen noted that they applaud the FAA for taking the action, but say that the recovery of the CVR "black boxes" at sea is still a concern. A common concern in the design of black boxes is to make them able to withstand the harsh elements experienced during or after a crash, like water or fire. The congressmen are requesting that the FAA implement an additional rule to require the black boxes will "jettison from an airplane fuselage on impact and float to the surface."
"We applaud the FAA for taking this important regulatory step to increase the minimum duration of CVR recordings from the current two-hour rolling recording requirement to a new minimum duration of 25 hours for all newly manufactured aircraft operating under title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) parts 91, 121, 125, and 135," Cohen and Burchett said. " As your proposal notes, the current two-hour recording duration does not meet the National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) needs for investigations and subsequent safety recommendations."
For years the CVR extension was a recommendation on the NTSB's Most Wanted list, which retired after 33 years in 2023. The FAA proposed its intent to improve safety through the recommendations on the NTSB list in March 2023 and announced the CVR extension proposal by December. Recordings are imperative to investigators, allowing them to access the moments before the crash from inside the cockpit, even if the occupants do not survive. The current requirement is two hours and will record over previous data after the time is up. The new proposed requirement would cover recording for even the longest flights.
The congressmen's proposal is not a new concept but addresses an ongoing problem. Underwater search and rescue operations take time and money and the industry is continually looking for ways to improve safety features and tools like CVR devices to aid investigators in determining causes for crashes to prevent another occurrence.
"Numerous incidents and accidents have demonstrated the need for a longer duration CVR recording, which will ensure all relevant data is available to investigators promptly to determine the cause of an incident and to guide appropriate actions to mitigate the reoccurrence of a reported safety incident that could result in a catastrophic accident," the Congressmen said.