Editing Flight recorder (section)

=== Proposed requirements ===

==== Deployable recorders ====
The NTSB recommended in 1999 that operators be required to install two sets of CVDR systems, with the second CVDR designed to be ejected from the aircraft prior to impact with the ground or water. Ejection would be initiated by computer based on sensor information indicating an accident is imminent. A deployable recorder combines the cockpit voice/flight data recorders and an emergency locator transmitter (ELT) in a single unit. The unit would be designed to eject and float away from the aircraft and survive its descent to the ground, or float on water indefinitely. It would be equipped with satellite technology to aid in prompt recovery. Deployable CVDR technology has been used by the US Navy since 1993.<ref name="aviationtoday.com"/>

While the recommendations would involve a massive, expensive retrofit program, government funding would meet cost objections from manufacturers and airlines. Operators would get both sets of recorders (including the currently-used fixed recorder) free of charge. The cost of the second deployable/ejectable CVDR (or black box) was estimated at US$30 million for installation in 500 new aircraft (about $60,000 per new commercial plane).{{citation needed|date=June 2016}}

In the United States, the proposed SAFE Act calls for implementing the NTSB 1999 recommendations. However, so far the proposed legislation has failed to pass [[United States Congress|Congress]], having been introduced in 2003 (H.R. 2632), in 2005 (H.R. 3336), and in 2007 (H.R. 4336).<ref name="HT3336"/> Originally the Safe Aviation Flight Enhancement (SAFE) Act of 2003<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/108/hr2632/text |title=Text of the Safe Aviation and Flight Enhancement Act-((SAFE) Act of 2003) |access-date=August 2, 2015 |via=govtrack.us |archive-date=September 25, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925113645/https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/108/hr2632/text |url-status=live }}</ref> was introduced on June 26, 2003, by Congressman [[David Price (American politician)|David Price]] (D-NC) and Congressman [[Jimmy Duncan (politician)|John Duncan]] (R-Tenn.) in a bipartisan effort to ensure investigators have access to information immediately following accidents to [[transport category]] aircraft.<ref name="aviationtoday.com"/>

On July 19, 2005, a revised proposal for a SAFE Act was introduced and referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the US House of Representatives. The bill was referred to the House Subcommittee on Aviation during the 108th, 109th, and 110th Congresses.<ref name="HR2632"/><ref name="HT3336-2"/><ref name="HR4336"/>

==== After Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 ====
In the United States, on March 12, 2014, in response to the missing [[Malaysia Airlines Flight 370]], [[David Price (American politician)|David Price]] re-introduced the SAFE Act in the US House of Representatives.<ref name="Jansen"/>

The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 demonstrated the limits of the contemporary flight recorder technology, namely how physical possession of the flight recorder device is necessary to help investigate the cause of an aircraft incident. Considering the advances of modern communication, technology commentators called for flight recorders to be supplemented or replaced by a system that provides "live streaming" of data from the aircraft to the ground.<ref name="Trimble"/><ref name="CBC"/><ref name="Conversation"/> Furthermore, commentators called for the underwater locator beacon's range and battery life to be extended, as well as the outfitting of civil aircraft with the deployable flight recorders typically used in military aircraft. Previous to MH370, the investigators of 2009 [[Air France Flight 447]] urged that the battery life be extended as "rapidly as possible" after the crash's flight recorders went unrecovered for over a year.<ref name="SMH"/>

==== After Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 ====
On December 28, 2014, [[Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501]], en route from [[Surabaya]], Indonesia, to [[Singapore]], crashed in bad weather, killing all 155 passengers and seven crew on board.<ref name="bbc1">{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-30647375 |title=AirAsia QZ8501: More bad weather hits AirAsia search |date=January 1, 2015 |work=[[BBC News]] |access-date=June 21, 2018 |archive-date=August 15, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180815053318/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-30647375 |url-status=live }}</ref>

On January 8, 2015, before the recovery of the flight recorders, an anonymous [[ICAO]] representative said: "The time has come that deployable recorders are going to get a serious look."<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|last1=Lampert|first2=Allison|last2= Martell|first1= Allison|date=January 8, 2015|title=AirAsia crash makes case for ejectable black boxes|language=en|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-plane-blackboxes-analysis-idUSKBN0KH0BX20150108|access-date=January 5, 2021|archive-date=October 12, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191012021257/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-plane-blackboxes-analysis-idUSKBN0KH0BX20150108|url-status=live}}</ref> A second ICAO official said that public attention had "galvanized momentum in favour of ejectable recorders on commercial aircraft".<ref name=":0" />

==== Boeing 737 MAX ====
Live flight data streaming as on the [[ecoDemonstrator#2018: Boeing 777F|Boeing 777F ecoDemonstrator]], plus 20 minutes of data before and after a triggering event, could have removed the uncertainty before the [[Boeing 737 MAX groundings]] following the March 2019 [[Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302]] crash.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://aviationweek.com/commercial-aviation/opinion-time-ripe-live-flight-data-streaming |title=Opinion: The Time Is Ripe for Live Flight Data Streaming |date=March 22, 2019 |work=[[Aviation Week & Space Technology]] |access-date=March 22, 2019 |archive-date=January 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125123832/https://aviationweek.com/air-transport/opinion-time-ripe-live-flight-data-streaming |url-status=live }}</ref> In the [[Alaska Airlines Flight 1282]] accident, the Cockpit Voice Recorder functioned properly but the data was overwritten as the CVR remained powered, and functioning. The critical accident data was overwritten by over two hours of post-incident sounds until a maintenance crew could enter the aircraft after the incident and power down the CVR.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Villamizar |first=Helwing |date=2024-01-08 |title=No Data on Flight 1282 Cockpit Voice Recorder, NTSB Calls out FAA |url=https://airwaysmag.com/no-data-1282-cockpit-recorder-ntsb/ |access-date=2024-01-09 |publisher=Airways Publishing, LLC|language=en-US|quote=The NTSB sent the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) to their labs. They will use data from the FDR to narrow down the area to search for the door plug. However, the CVR was completely overwritten, meaning there is nothing on the CVR. The CVR overwrites every two hours. }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Nesi|first=Chris|date=2024-01-08 |title=Black box recorder from imperiled Alaska Airlines flight completely erased: 'We have nothing' |publisher=[[New York Post]]|url=https://nypost.com/2024/01/08/news/black-box-recorder-from-imperiled-alaska-airlines-flight-completely-erased-we-have-nothing/ |access-date=2024-01-09 |language=en-US}}</ref>

==== Image recorders ====
The NTSB has asked for the installation of cockpit image recorders in large transport aircraft to provide information that would supplement existing CVR and FDR data in accident investigations. They have recommended that image recorders be placed into smaller aircraft that are not required to have a CVR or FDR.<ref name="ntsb"/> The rationale is that what is seen on an instrument by the pilots of an aircraft is not necessarily the same as the data sent to the display device. This is particularly true of aircraft equipped with electronic displays ([[Cathode-ray tube|CRT]] or [[LCD]]). A mechanical instrument panel is likely to preserve its last indications, but this is not the case with an electronic display. Such systems, estimated to cost less than $8,000 installed, typically consist of a camera and microphone located in the cockpit to continuously record cockpit instrumentation, the outside viewing area, engine sounds, radio communications, and ambient cockpit sounds. As with conventional CVRs and FDRs, data from such a system is stored in a crash-protected unit to ensure survivability.<ref name="ntsb" />{{better source needed example|reason=unclear where this source says this|date=July 2019}} Since the recorders can sometimes be crushed into unreadable pieces, or even located in deep water, some modern units are self-ejecting (taking advantage of [[kinetic energy]] at impact to separate themselves from the aircraft) and also equipped with [[radio]] [[emergency locator transmitter]]s and [[sonar]] underwater locator beacons to aid in their location.<ref>{{Cite web|title=These Black Boxes Are Designed to Eject Themselves in a Plane Crash|url=https://www.travelandleisure.com/airlines-airports/airbus-self-ejecting-black-boxes|access-date=October 5, 2021|website=Travel + Leisure|language=en|archive-date=October 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005220134/https://www.travelandleisure.com/airlines-airports/airbus-self-ejecting-black-boxes|url-status=live}}</ref>