Statement of Caj Frostell, ICAO

MR. FROSTELL: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, I wish to thank NTSB and the sponsors of this symposium for inviting ICAO to participate. I'm pleased to be here.

The International Civil Aviation Organization is the United Nations specialized agency for civil aviation. ICAO was established in 1944 with the signing of the Convention on International Civil Aviation in Chicago. Today ICAO has 185 contracting States. Usually it is the civil aviation authority that represents the State in ICAO. This is a reflection of the concentration on technical work in ICAO. The Convention and its 18 technical Annexes are comparable to international law. The Convention and the Annexes can be considered multi-lateral agreements between States, essential for the regulation of international aviation. It is a contract between States, and that is why the 185 member States are called contracting States in the ICAO vocabulary.

The Annexes contain international Standards and Recommended Practices. The acronym is SARPs. States implement the Standards, and endeavor to implement the Recommended Practices in their national legislation and regulations. Normally, the ICAO regulatory framework is considered minimum requirements to be implemented in each State. There are areas, such as the carriage requirements for flight recorders, where developed States may be expected to go above the minimum ICAO requirements.

The ICAO flight recorder carriage requirements are contained in Annex 6, Operation of Aircraft. I will deal only with Annex 6, Part I - International Commercial Air Transport. In addition, there is Part II that deals with General Aviation, and Part III that deals with Helicopters.

The requirements are based on the date of the individual certificate of airworthiness when first issued. Earlier this morning, we heard a presentation by Dennis Grossi, who covered the historical background from the `60s, `70s and early `80s. He referred to the type certificate, and that was the case in the `70s and early `80s. At that time, the ICAO requirements were based on the date of the type certificate. This proved to be an oversight in the flight recorder field, because new aeroplanes were being built based on old or modified type certificates and the aeroplanes were often equipped with old technology flight recorders. The envisaged change to digital flight data recorders was very slow. Therefore, the requirements are now based on the date of the first individual certificate of airworthiness, which is usually the date the aircraft leaves the manufacturing line.

The weight limits in the requirements are maximum certificated take-off mass. The current requirements call for Type I data recorders in aeroplanes over 27,000 kg when the first C of A was issued after 1 January 1989. In aeroplanes from 5,700 to 27,000 kg a Type II flight data recorder is required.

In brief, the duration is 25 hours, the Type I recorder is defined as at least a 32-parameter recorder, and the Type II recorder for smaller aircraft is as a 15-parameter recorder. I would ask you to note that the ICAO parameter list has, for example, engine power as one parameter. Usually, we need at least two parameters to determine the power on each engine. So, if we have four engines, we are, de facto, recording eight parameters to satisfy the requirement of one parameter in the ICAO list. The list of 32 parameters represents an actual recording of some 60 to 80 parameters.

Regarding cockpit voice recorders, the requirement covers all aeroplanes over 5,700 kg with a C of A first issued after 1 January 1987. The CVR duration is 30 minutes, however, there is a Recommended Practice for aeroplanes with a C of A issued after 1 January 1990 to have a two-hour duration CVR. However, the tape-based recorders were not able to accommodate a two-hour recording. Only in the last few years, when solid state technology became available, was a two-hour duration CVR feasible.

The requirements in Annex 6 also deal with construction and installation. As an example of how ICAO requirements usually are general in nature, the requirement calls for the recorder to meet prescribed crashworthiness and fire protection specifications. However, the requirements do not contain such specifications. ICAO is not in a position to develop and update such specifications. Therefore, the requirement in Annex 6 is followed by a note which makes reference to industry specifications, such as EUROCAE.

There are also requirements regarding the operations of flight recorders. Recorders shall not be switched off during flight time. If there is an incident in flight, the CVR circuit breaker shall not be pulled in flight. Only after completion of the flight, after landing, should the recorder be deactivated. The recorder shall not be reactivated before its disposition as determined by the investigation authority. A note to the requirement in Annex 6 specifically calls for a consideration of the circumstances. If the aircraft is at an out station and the occurrence was a serious incident, yes, the recorder may have to be pulled. In the case of a minor incident, consideration may be given to allowing the aeroplane to continue without pulling the flight recorders if there is no replacement recorder available at that out station.

This kind of a situation may hopefully be somewhat alleviated with solid state recorders in the future. The data can be easily extracted at out stations and the aircraft may continue with active recorders.

The requirements also call for continued serviceability of the recorders and a programme to maintain and service the flight recorders. The requirement is very general, and the details are contained in the green pages to Annex 6, which, by definition, is guidance material.

That is the situation today for existing aeroplanes that came into service after 1 January 1987 for CVRs, and after 1 January 1989 for data recorders.

Then the future. We have a flight recorder panel that met in November last year. The panel drafted, or helped ICAO to draft, new requirements. The panel finished its work on the carriage requirements for new aeroplanes. The parameter list is more practical and contains more flexibility in the choice of parameters. Of course, the basic parameters are mandatory, but a number of parameters will be required to be recorded only if the data is readily available on the aeroplane.

At this stage, we are in the process of processing these draft requirements. The Annex amendment proposals will be sent to States for comments by a State letter in a month or two. Then States will provide their comments, which are analyzed, and considered by the ICAO Air Navigation Commission. Later, the ICAO Council will adopt the amendments to Annex 6, which then will become applicable, probably in the year 2000 or 2001. However, there would be a lead-time and the carriage requirements are envisaged to come into effect from 1 January 2003.

The new requirements would concern all aeroplanes above 5,700 kg, based on the reasoning that the parameter list is flexible. If the data is available, it should be recorded. Also, medium-size and many small-size aeroplanes between 5,700 kg and 27,000 kg are, in many aspects, as complex as larger aeroplanes.

The carriage requirements are likely to be formulated in general terms, with reference to a parameter list. At this stage, it is not determined whether the parameter list would also be a Standard, or whether it would be a Recommended Practice.

The requirements for cockpit voice recorders for new aeroplanes are envisaged to come into effect 1 January 2003. A requirement for a two-hour duration CVR on all aeroplanes+ over 5,700 kg is envisaged.

Regarding the future work of the FLIREC Panel, there was considerable discussion in the panel regarding retrofit requirements for existing aeroplanes. The panel will document justifications for retrofit at its next meeting. With very good justifications it may be possible to recommend a retrofit to existing aeroplanes operating under Annex 6, Part I (international commercial air transport).

The other subjects on the panel work programme are the impending obsolescence of tape-based recorders, a possible requirement for an independent power supply, further review of the parameters as specified by EUROCAE, cockpit video recording, and a combined FDR/CVR/video recorder, as well as recorders for small aeroplanes.

Mr. Chairman, this concludes my presentation. Thank you very much.