Overview
- For newly built passenger aircraft, 25-hour cockpit voice recorders will be required starting in 2027.
- Existing passenger aircraft must be retrofitted to meet the 25-hour standard by 2030.
- Regulators cite more than a dozen cases since 2003 where the two-hour loop erased relevant audio, including a 2023 incident at JFK where the flight continued and the cockpit conversation was lost.
- The rule brings U.S. requirements into alignment with standards set by ICAO and EASA.
- Pilot unions, including ALPA, raise privacy and disclosure concerns, while safety advocates continue to support additional tools such as cockpit video recorders.