NTSB pushes FAA for tracking revisions

The NTSB is pushing the FAA to revise tracking features on all existing and new build aircraft. The EASA will be announcing similar revisions in March, although their new rules haven't been circulated yet.

The NTSB is asking the FAA to require that all aircraft that are required to be equipped with a CVR/FDR combination to be equipped with a tamper resistant method to broadcast position information sufficient to put search crews within six nautical miles of the location the aircraft was lost at. They would also require aircraft to carry a low frequency pinger capable of transmitting for 90 days. The lower frequency would allow detection at longer ranges. The other recommendation is that after a triggering event, the aircraft transmit to ground stations, 88 parameters of the aircraft.

The recommendations were brought about in part because of MH370, and AF447. The FAA will respond to the recommendations in 90 days.

Based in large part on the 2014 disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 and the two-year search for Air France Flight 447, the NTSB is asking the FAA to require new and existing aircraft that fly oceanic routes to carry certain devices and features that will help first responders to more quickly find a downed aircraft and its data recorders and give investigators an early look at what happened.

The recommendations—four new and four revisions of previously issued requests—come as the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) prepares for a high-level safety conference in early February to address many of the same issues.

That meeting will likely set the stage for new global standards in tracking and triggered position transmissions from aircraft in distress, largely to determine the position of a crash site.

aviationweek.com...