Flight recorders help accident investigators determine the reasons for accidents and, in turn, enable authorities to recommend changes to help mitigate future incidents. They are themselves subject to regulations to ensure they can deliver the information needed. Flight recorder regulations have evolved over the years from their inception and they continue to evolve today in response to new technologies and unfortunate incidents that highlight areas for improvement in their design or recoverability.
This white paper looks at the history of flight recorders, their regulations, and how these regulations are formulated. It also discusses regulations due in the near term and what the future may bring.
Download the white paper to learn more about:
- Flight recorder history
- Common standards
- ED-112A/B
- GADSS
- 25-hour cockpit voice recorders
Steve Leaper
Bids Manager
Steve Leaper works for Curtiss-Wright in the role of product manager for flight recorders and bids manager. He joined Curtiss-Wright in 1986, initially working with tape-based voice and flight data recorders. Steve has spent virtually all of his career working with the flight recorder product range, with extensive knowledge of the product range and requirements. Steve has held the positions of engineer, program manager and had key account management responsibility for Leonardo Helicopters, BAE Systems, and Collins Technologies (formerly Goodrich), amongst others, while also representing Curtiss-Wright at international committees such as ARINC and EUROCAE.
Stephen Willis
Product Marketing Manager
Stephen Willis is the aerospace test and measurement Product Marketing Manager at Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions. He has a degree in Electrical Engineering, a Masters in Philosophy for research in mathematical models and their market application for risk assessment, and a PG Dip in marketing and management. His current research interests include data acquisition, recording, and control systems and their applications in enabling a cost-effective route to gather large amounts of data. In particular, applications of interest include flight test, crash-protected recording, and structural/usage monitoring programs. He is the author of several academic papers and magazine articles.