FAA Proposes 25-Hour Cockpit Voice Recording in New Planes

The move, aimed at enhancing flight safety, follows a series of near-miss incidents where crucial data was lost due to current two-hour recording limit.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is proposing to extend cockpit voice recording capacity to 25 hours in newly manufactured aircraft, up from the current two hours.
The proposal comes after several near-miss incidents where investigators were unable to retrieve valuable data because the recordings were overwritten after two hours.
Europe and the International Civil Aviation Organization already require 25-hour data recorders. The proposed rule would bring the US in line with these international standards.
The FAA will publish the proposed rule in the Federal Register, and the public will have 60 days to comment before the FAA takes the next step.
The National Transportation Safety Board has been advocating for this change since 2018, but the FAA did not agree to retrofit existing planes due to the significant costs involved.