The Use of Deployable Flight Recorders in Dual Combi Recorder Installations

Flight Data Recorders (FDR’s), Cockpit Voice Recorders (CVR’s) and Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELT’s) have been combined into a single deployable unit and used successfully on military aircraft for decades. Their proven survival strategy, of deploying away from the aircraft and hence the crash site, allows for quick location and economical recovery of recorder information, particularly in marine incidents, where the floating recorders can readily be retrieved from the surface of the ocean. Changes in the needs of accident investigators, and in aircraft use, application, performance monitoring, routing, and avionics have resulted in the current initiatives underway to revise aviation recorder standards. The deliberations of EUROCAE Working Group 50 and the discussions of the group preparing the new AEEC standard of ARINC 767 are airing some radically new concepts in flight recorder requirements and configurations. These include the use of a pair of redundant recorders each storing both Cockpit Voice, Flight Data, and requirements for digital communications and video storage. In this process of reviewing, revising and adding to airborne recorder standards, there is reason to evaluate the use of deployable recorders on civilian aircraft. An opportunity has arisen for the use of a deployable recorder as the alternate recorder in dual redundant recorder installations. This combination of recorder memory media protection schemes would provide the best of both worlds of fixed and deployable survivability strategies. As the new EUROCAE specifications pass from embryonic concepts to regulation it is important that matching airworthiness standards levied by the FAA, JAA and other authorities continue to include standards for deployables. Definition and regulation of requirements for deployables, such as those included in the performance specifications being drafted by Working Group 50, would allow the option for the use of a fixed and deployable combined recorder installation on civil aircraft.

• Record URL:
  http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Publications/pdf_library/austin.pdf
• 
• Corporate Authors:

  National Transportation Safety Board

  490 L'Enfant Plaza, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20594

  International Transportation Safety Association

  Apeldoorn,   Netherlands 
• Authors:
  • Austin, P Robert
• Conference:
  • Transportation Recording: 2000 and Beyond. International Symposium on Transportation Recorders
  • Location: Arlington VA, United States
  • Date: 1999-5-3 to 1999-5-5
• Publication Date: 1999

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 9-20
• Monograph Title: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Transportation Recorders. Transportation Recording: 2000 and Beyond, May 3-5, 1999, Arlington, Virginia

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Air transportation crashes; Aviation safety; Civil aircraft; Crash investigation; Emergency locator transmitters; Flight recorders; Military aircraft; Standards; Water transportation crashes
• Uncontrolled Terms: Combination data recorders; Deployable
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Marine Transportation; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01088089
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jan 30 2008 12:31PM