FAA to Require Updated Flight Recorders, but Delay Criticized

The Federal Aviation Administration announced plans Wednesday to require airlines to install more sophisticated flight data recorders on commercial passenger jets that would provide more information for investigators in the event of a crash.

The move, prompted by pressure from the National Transportation Safety Board, follows months of delay by the White House, whose Office of Management and Budget had held up the proposed regulations in the face of heavy opposition from the industry.

The tougher regulations, which would not become fully effective until five years after they are issued, would expand the types of data airlines would be required to record, both for newly manufactured aircraft and for those already in the airlines’ fleets.

The NTSB has been pressuring the FAA to order such changes, particularly after the September 1994 crash of a Boeing 737 near Hopewell, Pa., that killed 132 people, and a 1991 crash of a 737 in Colorado Springs, Colo., that killed 25 people.

In both cases, investigators said that they were not able to obtain enough information from the flight data recorders to determine why the crashes occurred.

Transportation Secretary Federico Pena issued a statement saying that the proposal “demonstrates the FAA’s commitment to ensure that our nation’s aviation system continues to be the safest in the world.”

However, the NTSB criticized the agency sharply for failing to order the immediate installation of more sophisticated flight data recorders on Boeing 737s.

NTSB Chairman James E. Hall pointed out that while the FAA has been asking the airlines for more than a year to upgrade the data recorders in Boeing 737s, the new rules would give them through the year 2000 to finish the job.

Flight data recorders are one of two “black boxes,” along with cockpit voice recorders, that are packed in crash- and heat-resistant cases in the tail of all jetliners and most commuter planes.

Earlier models record information on speed and altitude and the performance of a handful of aircraft systems. Newer versions also record the functioning of an array of other controls.