For decades, Flight Data Recorders (FDR) have helped accident investigators determine the cause of accidents. Throughout their history, FDRs have changed to meet new regulations that better aid FDR survivability, locatability, and to provide more information to investigators and authorities that can result in changes to aircraft construction or operations.
Operators of aircraft may find they need to upgrade existing FDRs for a variety of reasons including meeting new regulations, obsolescence issues, reducing size, weight, or power (SWaP), or to gather additional data. Whatever the reason, a key concern will be how best to replace the existing FDR as quickly and easily as possible.
Figure 1: Modern FDRs provide a host of benefits over older models
The procedures that must be followed in order to change one FDR for another depending on the recorders and the needs of the aircraft. This document discusses why one may decide to upgrade FDRs and uses a specific case to discuss the benefits of modern FDRs and the replacement procedures. While this is specific to certain recorders, the principles and steps are similar for any other FDR combination.
Download the white paper to learn more.
- FDR regulations
- Difficulties encountered changing recorders
- Upgrading from Curtiss-Wright’s MPFR to Fortress