Congressmen Call For Floating Flight Recorders

Tennessee congressmen Steve Cohen and Tim Burchett are calling on the FAA to require cockpit data and voice recorders be made to jettison from aircraft on impact with water and to float to the surface, in comments on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would require recorders to retain the previous 25 hours of data and voice communications. The current rules call for only two hours of data. In their comments, Cohen and Burchett said they approve the 25-hour rule and want to enhance safety further by making the recorders much easier to find after a crash.

Last May, the congressmen have introduced the Safe Aviation and Flight Enhancement Act, which would include the jettisonable recorders. They say such systems would eliminate the costly and dangerous underwater recovery of recorders, which are secured in a cabinet in the fuselage but are often dislodged in a crash. "Air crash victim families deserve assurances that search and rescue teams will have rapid access to a crash location’s site to speed survivor recovery efforts, and that victim families will have access to timely and factual information regarding the cause of an accident and the fate of their loved ones," the bill says.