As another FAA reauthorization bill makes its way through the legislature, the decades-old debate over cockpit video recorders has reared its head once again. While the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has had cockpit cameras on its “Most Wanted” list since 2003, Congress and the FAA still refuse to implement a mandate.
When the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee introduced its version of the FAA reauthorization bill in June 2023—the Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act (H.R.3935)—it included a provision that would require all aircraft flying under Part 121 rules to be equipped with both a cockpit voice recorder and a cockpit video recorder, each capable of recording at least 25 hours of data. Under that provision, airlines would have seven years to install crash-proof video recorders in their fleets, and the FAA would have three years to draft requirements for the devices.
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