Overview

• NTSB Chairperson Jennifer Homendy calls for a change in the recording standard of cockpit voice recorders (CVRs) from two hours to 25 hours, a duration already required under European airline regulations.
• The FAA proposed a similar requirement last year, but it would only apply to newly-manufactured planes. Homendy wants the proposal to be extended to aircraft currently in service.
• The recent Alaska Airlines incident, where a door plug blew off a Boeing 737 MAX 9, highlighted the issue as the CVR data was overwritten before it could be retrieved due to the two-hour recording limit.
• Over the last five years, the short recording span of CVRs has impacted 10 investigations, including several probes into near-collisions on US runways.
• Despite the FAA's resistance to longer recording times, citing costs, Homendy insists that it is possible to easily install a different CVR and increase the recording time.