Transportation Safety
Improvements
Federal Issues
Aviation
Require Image Recorders
Importance
In order to rapidly, effectively, and efficiently determine the factors related to an aircraft accident, the Safety Board’s investigators must have as much information as possible. Automatic information recording devices, such as image recording systems, would provide critical information to investigators about the actions inside the cockpit immediately before and during an accident. The fact that this information is recorded immediately prior to and during the accident sequence often gives investigators the ability to quickly determine and correct a problem. This knowledge results in the development of timely, more precise safety recommendations that are likely to reduce future similar accidents.
The Safety Board’s recommendations address image recording systems would have provided cockpit information that could have assisted in the investigation of several aircraft accidents, including the following:
USAir flight 105, Kansas City, Missouri, September 8, 1989
ValuJet flight 592, the Florida Everglades, May 11, 1996
SilkAir flight 185, Indonesia, December 19, 1997
Swissair flight 111, Nova Scotia, September 2, 1998
EgyptAir flight 990, south of Nantucket, Massachusetts, October 31, 1999
King Air A100, near Eveleth, Minnesota, October 25, 2002
Although conventional cockpit video recorders (CVRs) and digital flight data recorders (DFDRs) record sounds and relatively comprehensive airplane data during an emergency, they do not show the initial cockpit environment leading up to the emergency. This information is critical in determining whether there had been subtle indications of an approaching emergency, whether the crew followed published procedures, and whether or not any of the crew’s responses to the emergency were effective. If information on such conditions were fully known, it might be possible to modify aircraft systems or training programs to assist future crews in recognizing these indications and effecting a safe recovery.
Summary of Action
On March 7, 2008, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a final rule, titled “Revisions to Cockpit Voice Recorder and Digital Flight Data Recorder Regulations,” that addressed a number of open recommendations, including several that were on the list of Most Wanted Safety Improvements. However, the final rule did not address requiring image recorders on aircraft.
Small Aircraft
Considering the number of accidents occurring among smaller aircraft, the Safety Board has identified the need to install crash-protected recording devices on all turbine-powered aircraft. An image recording system would provide critical information to investigators about the actions inside the cockpit immediately before and during an accident on aircraft not required to have a CVR or DFDR.
The Board recognizes the economic impact of requiring both a CVR and a DFDR on smaller aircraft and consequently recommends that these aircraft be equipped with a single crash-protected recorder: the image recorder. 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 DFDRs, data from such a system is stored in a crash-protected unit to ensure survivability. Public Law 106-424, signed November 1, 2000, provides for withholding from public disclosure voice and image recorder information for all modes of transportation.
In March 2003, the European Organization for Civil Aviation Equipment (EUROCAE) issued ED-112, “MOPS [Minimum Operational Performance Specification] for Crash Protected Airborne Recorder Systems.” Amendment 2 to this document was issued by EUROCAE in September 2003. On July 28, 2006, the FAA issued Technical Standard Order (TSO) C176, “Aircraft Cockpit Image Recorder Systems,” which incorporates ED-112.
The FAA has previously stated that no rulemaking is underway to mandate the installation of TSO-approved image-recording equipment on aircraft operated under 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 135 that do not currently have flight recorders. Several years ago, the FAA collected data from a proof-of-concept test to determine whether an image recording system could be used to collect specific parametric data and other flight information. As part of the test, several image-recording systems were installed on an FAA aircraft that was flown in various operational and environmental conditions. The FAA previously indicated that it would use the results of this analysis along with other required considerations to determine whether rulemaking for this recommendation is warranted.
The FAA conducted the study and stated in the 2008 Report to Congress that it is currently reviewing the Safety Board provided comments and analysis (submitted January 2006) on the report, which includes the proof-of-concept test results. In addition, the FAA is considering additional image recording system proof-of-concept testing on rotorcraft; however, the FAA has not indicated that it plans to require these systems, as recommended.
Large Aircraft
The Safety Board 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. The Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics’ Future Flight Data Collection Committee (FFDCC) considered the issue of image recording and concluded that this methodology would provide useful information to accident investigation and that it was technologically feasible. The FFDCC did note concerns about the protection from disclosure outside of accident investigation, particularly for international flights. The Board’s last reauthorization extended the protections that have long been in place for CVRs to image recorders.
In years past, the FAA has informed Congress that the FFDCC did not present information that was sufficiently compelling to convince the FAA of the necessity of installing image recording systems in aircraft operated under Parts 121, 125, or 135. The FAA has no rulemaking underway to mandate the installation of cockpit image systems. The FAA indicated to Congress that if the Board requires additional flight data information to investigate an accident or incident, the FAA would likely propose a performance-based requirement, stipulating that this flight data must be captured. Industry would be allowed to respond to the requirement in the manner it found most appropriate.
Action Remaining
Require the installation of image recording systems in small and large aircraft.
Safety Recommendations
A-00-30 (FAA)
Issued April 11, 2000
Added to the Most Wanted List: 2002
Status: Open—Unacceptable Response
Require that all aircraft operated under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121, 125, or 135 and currently required to be equipped with a cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and digital flight data recorder (DFDR) be retrofitted by January 1, 2005, with a crash-protected cockpit image recording system. The cockpit image recorder system should have a 2-hour recording duration, as a minimum, and be capable of recording, in color, a view of the entire cockpit including each control position and each action (such as display selections or system activations) taken by people in the cockpit. The recording of these video images should be at a frame rate and resolution sufficient for capturing such actions. The cockpit image recorder should be mounted in the aft portion of the aircraft for maximum survivability and should be equipped with an independent auxiliary power supply that automatically engages and provides 10 minutes of operation whenever aircraft power to the cockpit image recorder and associated cockpit camera system ceases, either by normal shutdown or by a loss of power to the bus. The circuit breaker for the cockpit image recorder system, as well as the circuit breakers for the CVR and the DFDR, should not be accessible to the flight crew during flight.
(Source: A safety recommendation letter dated April 11, 2000, prompted by the lack of valuable cockpit information during the investigations of several aircraft incidents and accidents, including USAir flight 105 on September 8, 1989 [NTSB/AAR-90-04]; ValuJet flight 592 on May 11, 1996 [NTSB/AAR-97-06]; SilkAir flight 185 on December 19, 1997; Swissair flight 111 on September 2, 1998;, and EgyptAir flight 990 on October 31, 1999. [NTSB/AAB-02-01])
A-00-31 (FAA)
Issued April 11, 2000
Added to the Most Wanted List: 2002
Status: Open—Unacceptable Response
Require that all aircraft manufactured after January 1, 2003, operated under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121, 125, or 135 and required to be equipped with a cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and digital flight data recorder (DFDR) also be equipped with two crash-protected cockpit image recording systems. The cockpit image recorder systems should have a 2-hour recording duration, as a minimum, and be capable of recording, in color, a view of the entire cockpit including each control position and each action (such as display selections or system activations) taken by people in the cockpit. The recording of these video images should be at a frame rate and resolution sufficient for capturing such actions. One recorder should be located as close to the cockpit as practicable and the other as far aft as practicable. These recorders should be equipped with independent auxiliary power supplies that automatically engage and provide 10 minutes of operation whenever aircraft power to the cockpit image recorders and associated cockpit camera systems ceases, either by normal shutdown or by a loss of power to the bus. The circuit breaker for the cockpit image recorder systems, as well as the circuit breakers for the CVRs and the DFDRs, should not be accessible to the flight crew during flight.
(Source: A safety recommendation letter dated April 11, 2000, prompted by the lack of valuable cockpit information during the investigations of several aircraft incidents and accidents, including USAir flight 105 on September 8, 1989 [NTSB/AAR-90-04]; ValuJet flight 592 on May 11, 1996 [NTSB/AAR-97-06]; SilkAir flight 185 on December 19, 1997; Swissair flight 111 on September 2, 1998;, and EgyptAir flight 990 on October 31, 1999. [NTSB/AAB-02-01])
A-03-64 (FAA)
Issued December 22, 2003
Added to the Most Wanted List: 2004
Status: Open—Unacceptable Response
Require all turbine-powered nonexperimental, nonrestricted-category aircraft that are manufactured prior to January 1, 2007, that are not equipped with a cockpit voice recorder, and that are operating under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Parts 91, 135, and 121 to be retrofitted with a crash-protected image recording system by January 1, 2007.
(Source: A safety recommendation letter dated December 22, 2003, based on several aircraft accidents, including the October 25, 2002, crash of a Raytheon (Beechcraft) King Air A100 near Eveleth, Minnesota. [NTSB/AAR03/03])
October 2008
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