[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2632 Introduced in House (IH)]
108th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2632
To direct the Secretary of Transportation to issue a regulation
requiring the installation of 2 combination cockpit voice recorder and
digital flight data recorder systems in each commercial passenger
aircraft, currently required to carry each of those recorders, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 26, 2003
Mr. Duncan introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Transportation to issue a regulation
requiring the installation of 2 combination cockpit voice recorder and
digital flight data recorder systems in each commercial passenger
aircraft, currently required to carry each of those recorders, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Safe Aviation and Flight Enhancement
Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The events of September 11, 2001, demonstrated that the
United States needs to do more to ensure the survivability and
quick retrieval of critical flight data and cockpit voice
recording units aboard commercial aircraft.
(2) Increased national security threats to commercial
airliners demand that the United States do everything possible
to better secure the safety of our passengers by ensuring the
quick and complete recovery of critical flight data from
commercial air disasters for immediate analysis of potential
terrorism and to avoid unnecessary grounding of our commercial
air fleet.
(3) In light of new commercial aviation advances, including
increased polar flights, increased air traffic over-water, and
the onset of free flight, there is increased potential for more
difficult location and recovery of fixed flight recorder and
cockpit voice recorder units.
(4) Hundreds of millions of dollars are unnecessarily -
expended to locate and recover ``black boxes'', especially in
underwater investigations, despite existing deployable recorder
technology currently used by the United States Armed Forces,
which would allow us to avoid such unnecessary and wasteful
costs.-
(5) It is in the public's best interest to accomplish these
-improvements by implementing the March, 9, 1999,
recommendations A-99-16 through A-99-18 of the National
Transportation Safety Board, in addition to incorporating a
combined cockpit voice recorder and digital flight data
recorder system designed to eject from the rear of the aircraft
at the moment of an accident, so that the system will avoid the
direct impact forces of the crash, avoid -becoming ensnarled in
the wreckage or fire intensity of the crash site, and float
indefinitely on water.
(6) The Navy's successful experience since 1993 with
deployable technology indicates that transfer of this
technology into the commercial sector provides an obvious way
to help us meet our goals to increase the survivability and
retrieval of recorders while reducing the time and cost of a
mishap, investigation, search, rescue, and recovery.
(7) Valuable time is lost searching for fixed flight data
recorders in the wreckage of a crash site, especially at the
bottom of the ocean, and critical data is unnecessarily lost in
incidents in which the aircraft's electrical supply is
prematurely interrupted or the black boxes do not survive the
crash circumstances, as is evident in reviewing some of our
most recent and devastating air incidents, the including the
following:
(A) Neither flight data or cockpit voice recorder
was recovered from American Airlines Flight 11 and
United Airlines Flight 175 that were used in the World
Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001.
(B) It took 3 days to recover the flight data and
cockpit voice recorders from American Airlines Flight
77 that was used in the Pentagon attack on September
11, 2001. In addition, the cockpit voice recorder was
damaged beyond repair, rendering no information.
(C) It took 13 days to locate the cockpit voice
recorder and 9 days to recover the flight data recorder
from the air disaster involving Egypt Air Flight 990 in
the vicinity of Nantucket, Massachusetts, air disaster
on October 31, 1999.
(D) With respect to Swiss Air Flight 111
International in Halifax, Canada, on September 2, 1998,
the cockpit voice recorder stopped nearly 6 minutes
before the airplane hit the water, and it took search teams 9 days to
locate the cockpit voice recorder and 4 days to recover the flight data
recorder.
(E) The cockpit voice recorder and flight data
recorder stopped about 40 to 50 seconds before the
Valuejet Flight 592 crashed on its way back to the
Miami, Florida, airport on May 11, 1996. It took 15
days to recover the cockpit voice recorder, and 2 days
to recover the flight data recorder from such flight
because the underwater locator beacon failed.
(F) With respect to TWA Flight 800 which exploded
and crashed in the vicinity of Moriches, New York, on
July 17, 1996, the cockpit voice recorder and flight
data recorder stopped at the time of the explosion,
even though the airplane did not hit the water for
another 40 to 50 seconds, and it took 7 days to recover
such recorders.
SEC. 3. REGULATIONS REQUIRING DEPLOYABLE RECORDERS AND OTHER PURPOSES.
(a) In General.--Chapter 447 of title 49, United States Code is
amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 44727. Installation of additional flight recorders
``(a) Regulations.--
``(1) In general.--Not later than 90 days after the date of
enactment of this section, the Secretary of Transportation
shall issue regulations that require in accordance with this
section all commercial aircraft that must carry both a cockpit
voice recorder and digital flight data recorder to be equipped
with 2 combination cockpit voice and digital flight data
recording systems. One system shall be located as close to the
cockpit as practicable, and the other shall be mounted as far
rear on the airframe as practicable and shall be a deployable
recorder system.
``(2) Minimum capabilities.--Both recording systems shall
be capable of recording all mandatory data parameters covering
the previous 25 hours of operation and all cockpit audio,
including controller-pilot data link messages for the previous
2 hours of operation.
``(3) Cockpit system.--The system located near the cockpit
shall be powered by the electrical bus to provide the second
highest reliability for operation without jeopardizing service
to essential or emergency loads. In addition, such system shall
be provided with an independent power source that is located
with the combination recorder and that automatically engages
and provides 10 minutes of operation whenever normal aircraft
power ceases.
``(4) Rear system.--The rear system shall be powered by the
electrical bus to provide the maximum reliability for operation
without jeopardizing service to essential or emergency loads.
In addition, such system shall be provided with an independent
power source that is located with the combination recorder and
that automatically engages and provides 10 minutes of operation
whenever normal aircraft power ceases.
``(b) Schedule for Installation of Dual Combined Systems.--The
regulations shall require the installation of front combination fixed
recorder systems and rear combination, deployable recorder system
required under this section on commercial aircraft that are ordered by
an air carrier on or after January 1, 2005.
``(c) Definitions.--In this section, the following definitions
apply:
``(1) Commercial aircraft.--The term `commercial aircraft'
means--
``(A) a jet aircraft with 10 or more seats or
greater than 12,500 pound maximum takeoff weight; and
``(B) a propeller driven aircraft with greater than
19 seats or greater than 19,000 pound maximum takeoff
weight.
``(2) Deployable recorder system.--The term `deployable
recorder system' means a digital flight data recorder, cockpit
voice recorder and emergency locator transmitter housed as one
unit within an assembly that is -designed to be mounted
conformal to the surface of the airframe, eject from the
aircraft upon accident and fly away from the crash site, and
float indefinitely on water.''.
(b) Conforming Amendment.--The analysis for such chapter is amended
by adding at the end the following:
``44727. Installation of additional flight recorders.''.
SEC. 4. PURCHASE OF FIXED AND DEPLOYABLE RECORDER SYSTEMS.
The Secretary of Transportation shall purchase and make available,
at no cost, to an air carrier (as defined in section 40102 of title 49,
United States Code) such fixed recorder systems and deployable recorder
systems as may be necessary for the air carrier to comply with the
regulations issued under section 44727 of such title.
SEC. 5. REIMBURSEMENT OF AIRCRAFT MANUFACTURERS.
The Secretary of Transportation shall reimburse aircraft
manufacturers owned or controlled by a citizen of the United States (as
defined in section 40102 of title 49, United States Code) for
engineering, certification, and installation costs they incur in
developing and installing fixed recorder systems and deployable
recorder systems to comply with the regulations issued under section
44727 of such title.
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