Title 49TransportationRelease 119-73

§44746 Flight data recovery from overwater operations

Title 49 › Subtitle SUBTITLE VII— - AVIATION PROGRAMS › Part PART A— - AIR COMMERCE AND SAFETY › Subpart subpart iii— - safety › Chapter CHAPTER 447— - SAFETY REGULATION › § 44746

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The FAA must make rules within 18 months that require, within 5 years of enactment, certain planes to have three safety systems: a way to get required flight data after an accident without recovering the cockpit voice or flight data recorders from underwater; a tamper‑resistant system that sends enough information to ground stations to show where the aircraft ended its flight; and an airframe low‑frequency underwater locator that works for at least 90 days and can be detected by proper equipment. An "applicable aircraft" is one made on or after January 1, 2028, operated under part 121 of title 14, required to have cockpit voice and flight data recorders, and used for extended overwater operations.

Full Legal Text

Title 49, §44746

Transportation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this section, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration shall complete a rulemaking proceeding to require that, not later than 5 years after the date of enactment of this section, all applicable aircraft are—
(1)fitted with a means, in the event of an accident, to recover mandatory flight data parameters in a manner that does not require the underwater retrieval of the cockpit voice recorder or flight data recorder;
(2)equipped with a tamper-resistant method to broadcast sufficient information to a ground station to establish the location where an applicable aircraft terminates flight as the result of such an event; and
(3)equipped with an airframe low-frequency underwater locating device that functions for at least 90 days and that can be detected by appropriate equipment.
(b)In this section, the term “applicable aircraft” means an aircraft manufactured on or after January 1, 2028, that is—
(1)operated under part 121 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations;
(2)required by regulation to have a cockpit voice recorder and a flight data recorder; and
(3)used in extended overwater operations.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The date of enactment of this section, referred to in subsec. (a), is the date of enactment of Pub. L. 118–63, which was approved May 16, 2024.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

49 U.S.C. § 44746

Title 49Transportation

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73