Sec. 525. Cockpit voice recorders
503 words·~2 min read·
/bill/118/hr/3935/eh/section-525·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Chapter 447 of title 49, United States Code, is further amended by adding at the end the following: Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this section, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration shall complete a rulemaking proceeding to— require that, not later than 4 years after the date of enactment of this section, all applicable aircraft are fitted with a cockpit voice recorder and a flight data recorder that are each capable of recording the most recent 25 hours of data; prohibit any person from deliberately erasing or tampering with any recording on such a cockpit voice recorder or flight data recorder following a National Transportation Safety Board reportable event under part 830 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, or where crew would reasonably believe an aircraft lined up on an incorrect runway or incorrect taxiway, the aircraft landing at the wrong airport, the aircraft significantly overpassed the destination airport, or the crew have been alerted of a possible pilot deviation and provide for civil and criminal penalties for such deliberate erasing or tampering, which may be assessed in accordance with section 1155 and section 32 of title 18; require that such a cockpit voice recorder has the capability for an operator to use an erasure feature, such as an installed bulk erase function, consistent with applicable law and regulations; require that, in the case of such a cockpit voice recorder or flight data recorder that uses a solid state recording medium in which activation of a bulk erase function assigns a random discrete code to the deleted recording, only the manufacturer of the recorder and National Transportation Safety Board have access to the software necessary to determine the code in order to extract the deleted recorded data; and ensure that data on such a cockpit voice recorder or a flight data recorder, through technical means other than encryption (such as overwriting or the substitution of a blank recording medium before the recorder is returned to the owner) is not disclosed for use other than for accident or incident investigation purposes.
A cockpit voice recorder recording shall not be used by the Administrator or any employer for any certificate action, civil penalty, or disciplinary proceedings against flight crewmembers. In this section, the term applicable aircraft means an aircraft that is— operated under part 121 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations; and required by regulation to have a cockpit voice recorder or a flight data recorder. Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect— the confidentiality of recordings and transcripts under section 1114(c); the ban on recordings for civil penalty or certificate action under section 121.359(h) of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations; or the prohibition against use of data from flight operational quality assurance programs for enforcement purposes under section 13.401 of 14, Code of Federal Regulations. .
The analysis for chapter 447 of title 49, United States Code, is further amended by adding at the end the following: 44746. Cockpit recording device. .