Brussels, 17/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 16 December, the European Commission adopted new rules for flight recorders, underwater locating devices and aircraft tracking systems in the area of civil aviation.
Therefore, operators of large aeroplanes that weigh more than 27 t and fly more than 19 passengers, as well as freight planes weighing more than 45.5 t, will now be obliged to equip their aircraft with follow-up systems. Newly manufactured large aeroplanes will also have to be equipped “with robust and automatic means” to accurately locate the end point of flight. This is being done in an effort to prevent the tracking being lost, as was the case with the Malaysian Airlines flight MH 370 in March 2014. The technology of flight recorders will be enhanced, and the recording length of the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) will be extended from 2 hours to 25 hours. Flight recorders will be equipped with locating devices with an extended transmission time from 30 to 90 days.
An exact calendar has been set out. The first rules on improving the flight recorders will enter into force in June 2018 and the last of them in January 2021. The normal follow-up systems are expected to be operational in December 2018, and the improved follow up systems by 1 January 2021. The Commission is not advocating any particular technology or services because it is in favour of a performance-related approach, explained one European source. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) will produce a practical guide shortly, in an effort to provide precise clarification of what criteria should be met.
A raft of measures decided on in committee procedures last July, as part of the work carried out by the committee on implementing security rules in the civil aviation field comes just over a week after the adoption of the new Aviation Strategy (see EUROPE 11448). Last November, the World Radio Communications Conference allocated a radio electric frequency band exclusively for the follow-up of global level flights in the civil aviation arena, which will be operational as from 2017 (see EUROPE 11430). This is an important step because currently only 30% of global aviation zones are covered. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)