[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 164 (Thursday, November 18, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S14755-S14756]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               VIDEO CAMERAS IN THE COCKPITS OF AIRCRAFT

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I would like to address several topics 
that I think may be of interest to those who are following the debate 
in the Senate. One in particular has become a focal point of the news 
media across the United States and literally around the world. That was 
the crash of the EgyptAir aircraft just a few weeks ago and the loss of 
over 200 lives.
  I find it interesting, as we try to piece together all the 
information to determine what happened in that aircraft disaster, how 
limited we are with

[[Page S14756]]

respect to investigative tools. We have the so-called black box which 
has the flight data information. We are poring through that to try to 
determine what was happening mechanically on that plane when it went 
down. Then we have the audio recording which is now the focus of all 
sorts of international speculation. We listen to that audio recording 
for sounds, for words, and then try to piece together this mystery to 
determine what happened in the cockpit of that plane which led to this 
loss of life.
  This is more than just to satisfy curiosity. This investigation is 
being undertaken, as most are, to determine whether there is something 
we can or should do to change the way aircraft are maintained and flown 
to protect those who are passengers. These investigations are 
critically important. We often come up with information about a 
mechanical failure. We then set out to repair it. We decide that planes 
won't go back up in the air until that is taken care of. If there is 
human error--that will happen in most accidents--we at least get to the 
bottom of the equation and understand what is going on.
  The thing I find absolutely incredible, in 1999, is that we are 
dealing with such primitive tools when it comes to investigating 
aircraft disasters. The idea of an audio recording in a cockpit goes 
back to the 1930s. That was the state of the art then. But today, 
technology is far more advanced and I would suggest that we need to 
update plane safety by putting a video camera in the new planes' 
cockpits so we can determine what is happening in a crash.
  The obvious is not being used. If you walk into a bank, if you walk 
into most office buildings, a casino, a convenience store, or stand in 
front of an ATM machine, you will be on a video camera which will 
reflect your conduct and your activities. Think what a difference it 
would make today if there had been a video camera in the cockpit of the 
EgyptAir aircraft.
  The obvious question is, Why haven't we done this? The technology is 
there. It is a question of will. It may be a question of legislation. 
That is why I have written not only to the head of the Federal Aviation 
Administration as well as the Department of Transportation and the 
National Transportation Safety Board, urging them to expedite this 
question about whether or not we can safely install a video camera in 
the cockpit of aircraft to make certain that if there is an accident, 
so that we have another tool available to determine the reason for the 
disaster. We wouldn't be involved in all this speculation with the 
people of Egypt about the utterance of a prayer and whether that meant 
this was a suicide mission or something far different if we had a 
videotape we could refer to. We could find out who was at the controls 
and what they did at those controls. We would have an obvious clear 
answer to the question.
  As I went through this, I was amazed. I stopped and thought for a 
moment, why in the world are we still stuck with a tape recording of 
voices and sounds in the investigation of this aircraft disaster? I am 
urging my colleagues, those who feel as I do, to join me in this effort 
to make certain we bring the very best technology to the cockpits of 
aircraft, not only in the United States but those who serve the United 
States, so the day may come that if there is a disaster, we will have a 
final and complete answer, not just to satisfy curiosity but, even more 
important, to make sure passengers across the world can at least have 
some piece of mind knowing we have done everything we can to make 
airline safety our top and highest priority.

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