FAA wants better black boxes
Digital flight data recorders, more commonly known as “black boxes”, will be required to record the last two hours of cockpit audio and to continue to record for nine to 11 minutes once the main power is disrupted, the Federal Aviation Administration announced Monday. Current flight data recorders capture just the last 15 to 30 minutes of cockpit audio. The Associated Press reports that the current requirements do not go as far as the National Transportation Safety Board has recommended in the past. “The FAA rule comes nine years after the National Transportation Safety Board called on the agency to improve the recorders and does not go as far as the board recommended. The FAA said the costs of some of the recommendations would be too great to justify any potential benefit. Notably, the FAA did not pursue the National Transportation Safety Board recommendation to require video recording of cockpit activities. Investigators say video could have been helpful in cases such as the October 1999 crash of Egypt Air Flight 990, in which it was determined the co-pilot intentionally flew the plane into the sea. Pilot groups have opposed the use of cockpit cameras.”
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