REGULATORY / Flight Recorder Regs Going on the record Kelowna crash refocuses attention on Canada’s flight recorder regs By Ken Pole he October 2016 crash of a 1974 Cessna Citation eight minutes after takeoff from Kelowna, B.C., which killed the pilot and his three passengers, is focusing fresh attention on Canada’s regu- lations governing cockpit voice recorders (CVRs) and flight data recorders (FDRs). Currently, only Canadian multi-engine, turbine-powered commercial aircraft flown by two pilots and carrying six or more pas- sengers are required to carry a CVR. Like all aircraft its size, the Citation wasn’t required to have a recorder of either type on board. That prompted Transport T Transport Minister Marc Garneau has asked officials to examine expanded requirements for flight data and cockpit voice recorders in smaller aircraft. 88 SKIES Magazine | January/February 2017 Minister Marc Garneau to say “it’s a good time for us to look at the issue” even though his department has been consider- ing it for “quite a while.” In fact, there’s grim irony in that an International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standard adopted by most other regulators long ago originated with our own Transportation Safety Board (TSB) in February 1991—yet Canada has so far failed to follow suit. The TSB’s recommendations flowed from a review of 14 major “occurrences” in 1988-1989. Five aircraft had recorders from which useful data were retrieved. The other nine were not equipped, hinder- ing the investigations. Current Canadian recorder regulations date to 1969, and changes since then have been editorial or administrative. ICAO issued new standards and recommended practices in 1985; and while Canadian leg- islation met those standards, it fell short of ICAO’s recommended practices. So Transport Canada formed a review group in 1986 and the Canadian Aviation Safety Board (CASB) pub- lished a Statement of Requirement for improved regulations. Transport eventually responded by promising new legislation to match updates announced by U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 1988. But the process evident- ly stalled into a bureaucratic tailspin, prompting the TSB (which absorbed the CASB in 1990), to urge Transport to “expedite” updated recorder require- ments in smaller aircraft.