Safety Board Urges Deployment Of Cockpit Image Recorders

Air Safety Week, August 2, 2004

Frank Doran of L3 Communications, a manufacturer of cockpit voice and flight data recorders, said a crashworthy camera with a two-hour recording capability can be had for about $10,000. The cost of a total cockpit imagery recording capability depends primarily on the number of cameras. The NTSB wants to obscure the view of the pilots' heads, restricting the imagery to their hand and arm movements on the controls, and to capture instrument displays. That requirement makes the task difficult to accomplish with a single camera. Doran said the industry could accelerate production of a suitable suite of cameras and related equipment within 18-20 months of a "go" order.

Mike Horne of UK-based AD Aerospace, a camera supplier whose equipment already is installed for cabin surveillance on JetBlue Airways [JBLU], said a single high-resolution camera costs around $5,000-$7,000. However, a lowresolution camera adequate for the NTSB's desire for imagery recording in general aviation aircraft can be had for around $1,500.

Jim Elliott of Smiths Aerospace, another recorder supplier, said for a transport category aircraft a suite of four cameras would provide desired coverage of the cockpit as well as of the cabin: one camera covering the left side of the cockpit, one camera covering the right side of the cockpit, one camera looking over the pilots shoulders to cover the center console, and one camera to cover the cabin.

Rick Shie said his small ($22 million annual revenue) California-based company, Physical Optics Corp., is developing a single-box system to perform multiple recording missions. Dubbed FAERITO(tm), for flight anomalous event recorder information technology, its development is being supported by the U.S. Navy under a small business innovative research (SBIR) contract for installation in the Navy's E2C Hawkeye aircraft. The Navy has a requirement to install a recorder in these airplanes, which presently are not so equipped.

The FAERITO incorporates separate recorders in one survivable steel box, to include video, voice, data and engine recorders. The box itself measures 4" x 5" x 7" and weights about nine pounds.

FAERITO is being developed with an eye for civilian sales. The company hopes to receive FAA certification by April 2005, and it will be available for commercial application in July 2005, Shie said.

The power of precedent

Video is finding increasing application in aviation training. For example, Navy T-45 training aircraft feature a camera recording the head up display (HUD). The recording is used to debrief student pilots after their training flights.

In addition, the Navy has developed a prototype system in which video is used to record simulator training. The video is used to debrief the pilots after the training session, to point out what they did well and to highlight errors of omission or commission. "We have the entire evolution of the training event for the debrief," said Constance Gillan of the Navy's Pacific Fleet Sea Control Wing. She has been part of the development of this technology for the past seven years. "Video combined with other sources is the way to go," she declared. Gillan hastened to add that this is not her position as developer, but the reaction of pilots, who have submitted reports, such as one student pilot who praised the video as the "best simulator improvement per dollars spent."