Fortress Data Acquisition Flight Recorder (DAFR)

Curtiss-Wright has been manufacturing flight recorders since 1957, was the first to bring a combined cockpit voice/flight data recorder (CVR/FDR) to market in 1986, and was the first to obtain RTCA-DO-178 approval for solid-state recorders. Today, we manufacture the most flexible, compact, and lightweight ED-112A compliant recorders available.

Fortress Data Acquisition Flight Recorder (DAFR) provides a complete aircraft recording solution supporting the recording of mandatory parametric flight data as well as additional data from different interfaces. This makes it ideal for applications such as Flight Data Monitoring where it removes the need for a separate data acquisition unit and recorder.

Fortress DAFR also has four channels of cockpit voice recording, CPDLC recording (via ARINC 429 or ARINC 664), and image recording each for two hours minimum. It supports parametric data acquisition from either an ARINC 717, ARINC 429, or ARINC 664 interface.

Fortress DAFR is designed in accordance with RTCA/DO-178C and RTCA/DO-254. It meets all current FAA and EUROCAE requirements and has a 90-day ultrasonic locator beacon (ULB), certified to TSO-C121b. The core memory is expandable to support up to EUROCAE class 6 recorder requirements for 25 hours recording capacity.

Fortress DAFR attaches directly to an airframe to eliminate the need for heavy mounts and easily integrates with other systems to provide additional functionality such as

• High speed (<45 seconds) and license-free flight data download at the gate via a Gigabit Ethernet link
• Enhanced EMC/Lightning protection for high reliability – especially on composite aircraft
• 24/7 support line and AOG service

The Fortress DAFR is supported by a dedicated recorder independent power supply (RIPS), cockpit area microphone (CAM), cockpit area camera (CAC), and cockpit control unit (CCU). Supporting dual recorder installations, the CCU enables data and image distribution to two installed Fortress DAFR recorders.