Report From Washington

Test Those Recorders

The FAA is advising that all aircraft that are required to carry cockpit voice recorders undergo a daily preflight test of the recorder. This action stems from National Transportation Safety Board recommendations for frequent CVR checks due to "poor or inoperative CVR functionality."

The NTSB has found problems with CVRs during accident investigations and believes that more frequent testing will identify these problems so they can be repaired, which will ultimately help uncover more information after an accident.

Initially, the NTSB recommended CVR testing following routine maintenance of the devices. The FAA responded to that recommendation by issuing a revision to Order 8300.10, Airworthiness Inspector's Handbook, volume 3, chapter 143, telling "Airworthiness Aviation Safety Inspectors to evaluate maintenance programs that require maintenance technicians to perform a thorough test of the CVR at intervals considered appropriate by the CVR manufacturer.

This test must be conducted according to procedures provided by the CVR manufacturer and shall include, at a minimum, listening to the recorder signals on each channel to verify that the audio is being recorded properly, is intelligible, and is free from electrical noise or other interference." The NTSB went a bit further after that FAA response and recommended a CVR preflight check before the first flight of every day. This latest FAA notice (N 8000.292) adopts that NTSB recommendation, to a degree. The FAA found that not all CVRs are suited to preflight checks. Some CVRs aren't installed or wired in such a way as to make a preflight check possible. Those that are easily testable should be tested as part of the first day's preflight, and the preflight checklist should be modified to include this test, the FAA notice says.

The preflight check should include the following:

a. To test the CVR, insert headphones into the CVR control panel, if so equipped, position them comfortably over or in the ear(s) (depending upon headphone or headset type) for proper audibility, and perform the operations in the following subparagraphs (1) and (2):

(1) From the pilot's station, select the audio controller to the intercom position to avoid radio transmission, depress the microphone key switch, and speak at a normal voice level into the microphone; at the same time,

(2) Listen in the headphones for your speech playback which should be heard as discernible and undistorted. Note that your modulated voice may be delayed due to the recording process, but will vary in delay length, depending upon manufactured make and model of CVR; or

b. Depress the self-test button on an appropriately configured CVR control panel and observe the test meter response or listen in the headphones or headset to the audible tone or feedback loop of prerecorded audio. Such tone or audio should be discernible and undistorted. Note that depending upon the CVR model, it may be necessary to press and hold the self-test button.

c. If not equipped to perform tests in subparagraphs a and b, the FAA encourages all operators with installed CVRs without the means to test microphone audio from the flight deck to implement this test functionality at the next available maintenance inspection or during a major modification activity where the CVR is accessible for rewiring or reconfiguring.

The FAA is promoting the CVR tests by distributing this notice to FAA headquarters, regional, and district Flight Standards offices. Principal operations, maintenance, and avionics inspectors are asked to distribute this notice to the operators in their areas. Operators are urged to add the CVR preflight test to their operations specifications, but this notice is an FAA recommendation and is in no way legally binding.

To view the entire FAA notice, see www.faa.gov/avr/afs/notices/8000/N8000-292.doc .

Aging Rules Finalized

The FAA released the final rule on aging airplane safety, effective March 4, 2005. This final rule is actually the adopting of the interim final rule that was first published December 6, 2002 and that came about as a result of the Aging Aircraft Safety Act of 1991.

The Act required the FAA to "initiate a rulemaking proceeding for the purpose of issuing a rule to assure the continuing airworthiness of aging aircraft." This final rule incorporates comments to the interim final rule; the primary changes, according to the FAA, "are intended to retain the rule's safety objective while reducing the burden on the industry."

Major changes include:

• Removal of certain damage-tolerancebased supplemental inspection requirements for airplanes operated under Parts 121 and 129.
• Extension of the compliance date and narrowing of the airplane applicability for the damage-tolerance-based supplemental inspection requirements that remain in the final rule for airplanes operated under Parts 121 and 129.
• Removal of the supplemental inspection requirements for Part 135 airplanes.
• Clarification of the type of airplane structure the supplemental inspection requirements cover.

To view the final rule, see Click Here

New Non-Regulatory Documents

Special Airworthiness Information Bulletins (www.faa.gov/certification/aircraft/av-info/ad/saibs.asp)

SW-05-24: Bell Helicopter 206A, 206B, 206L, 206L-1, 206L-3 and 206L-4 helicopters with landing gear installations using crosstube assemblies that were removed from service by FAA AD 95- 11-14, effective June 30, 1995. Crosstubes affected by the AD are still being seen in service.

Unapproved Parts Notices (www.faa.gov/avr/sups/upn.cfm)

No. 2002-00146: Aluminum parts heattreated by Temperform USA.

No. 2004-00120: Propellers and propeller governors serviced by Prop Center, El Cajon, California.