ENHANCED RECORDING TECHNOLOGY Do we need the cockpit video recorder

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ENHANCED RECORDING TECHNOLOGYDo we need the
cockpit video recorder?

• NTSB TRANSPORTATION SAFETY AND THE LAW SYMPOSIUM
• CRYSTAL CITY, VA. APRIL25, 2000
• Captain Lindsay Fenwick

Air Line Pilots Association
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Improving safety...

• Enhanced recording devices
• A pilot perspective
• ALPA - 55,000 pilots
• A global issue

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Improving safety...

• Pilots want safety enhancements, but
• Importance of reasonableness
• ALPA policies

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Enhanced recorders to identify...

• Airplane and airspace system deficiencies
• Procedural problems
• Pilot performance anomalies

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Improved recorders...

• Real-time down-link
• Aircraft in distress
• Improved voice recorders-cockpit and cabin

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Improved recorders...

• Latest DFDRs -several hundred parameters
• Existing technology- few unsolved accidents
• Advanced DFDRs-even fewer ...

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Improved recorders...

• Feasible
• Practicable
• Reasonable
• But what is reasonable?

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Improved recorders...

• Finding a balance
• Pilots rights or preferences
• Interests of traveling public

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What is reasonable?

• Influence of experience
• Workplace frustrations
• Safety first?
• Few new accidents

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The cockpit video recorder...

• Why such interest?
• Resist the quick fix
• CVR experience instructive
• What have we learned?

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The CVR...

• Original purpose - accident investigation only
• Used for sensationalism
• Used for litigation
• Used for surveillance and discipline
• Inadequacies of current protections

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The cockpit video recorder...

• Pilots last seconds, live at eleven!
• Unfair, unreasonable, UNACCEPTABLE

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The cockpit video recorder...

• Protective laws with global reach
• Specific field of view
• Protective technology-encryption
• Who owns what?
• Authorized use then destruction

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The video recorder- other uses...

• View out cockpit windows
• Engines, landing gear
• Galleys, lavatories?
• Cabin surveillance?
• ATC facilities?
• Offices, homes,.?!

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Improving safety...

• We promised a reduction in accident rate
• Finite resources
• Proactive versus reactive focus

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Improving safety...

• Advanced recording technology can help
• Must consider impact on those most affected
• Accident prevention is goal

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Improved Recorders - the bottom line....

• For those on board the aircraft, an accident
  prevented is infinitely better than an accident
  recorded, no matter how well it is recorded.