ASC carries out routine flight recorder installation survey every year. Official document of flight recorder installation survey are sent to the operators and government agencies in September 2007. The goal of this survey is to find out installation of CVR, FDR, FDAU, and QAR in various operators. The findings would be reference for enhancement of the readout capability of the investigation laboratory, and as basis of the flight recorder readout in relations to the occurrence investigations. The specific works are:
Survey the models and the manufacturers of flight recorders.
Survey the format of the flight data readout database.
Survey the models and the manufacturers of FDAU.
Survey the installation of the FOQA system.
Statistics of the installation of flight recorders in civil aviation aircraft.
Statistics of the installation of flight recorders in government aircraft.
Statistics of the installation of QAR in civil aviation aircraft.
Analysis of the laboratory readout capability of flight recorders.
Findings
ASC accomplished "2007 Civil Aviation Flight Recorder Installation Survey" before October 2007. This survey included 12 operators (China Airlines, EVA Airways, UNI Airways, Far Eastern Air Transport, TransAsia Airways, Mandarin Airlines, Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation, Daily Air, Sunrise Airlines, Emerald Pacific Airlines, ROC Aviation Company) and two government agencies (National Airborne Service Corps. and Civil Aeronautics Administration). According to the feedback from all these agencies, there are a total of 232 aircraft including 189 fixed-wings and 43 helicopters. Out of these, 196 are civil aircraft (186 fixed-wings and 10 helicopters) and 36 are government aircraft (3 fixed-wings and 33 helicopters) after this survey, we have following findings:
The proportion of the civil aircraft that installed CVR and FDR are 96.4% and 92.3%.
The proportion of the civil aircraft that installed tape-based CVR and FDR are 5.6% and 2.6%.
The proportion of the civil aircraft that installed 30-min CVR and 120-min CVR are 25.5% and 65.3%.
The proportion of the civil fixed-wings airplanes that installed CVR and FDR are 98.4% and 97.3%.
The proportion of the civil fixed-wings airplanes that installed tape-based CVR and FDR are 5.9% and 2.7%.
The proportion of the civil fixed-wings airplanes that installed 30-min CVR and 120-min CVR are 23.7% and 68.8%..
The proportion of the civil aircraft with the FDR readout database of paper and electronic flies are 69.9% and 62.8%.
The proportion of the FDR readout database with verification is 95.7%.
The proportion of the civil aircraft installing QARs is 81.2%.
The proportion of readout capability at ASC LAB for CVR and FDR are 97.9% and 97.8%. The Honeywell DVDR (Solid State Digital Voice Data Recorder) and Russian recorder (MAPC-?M CVR and ??P-1 FDR) could not be readout due to the shortage of specific equipment.
there are 36 of government aircraft with six CVR, and two FDR installed on six of them. The other 30 of government aircraft did not install any flight recorders. The proportion of CVR and FDR installation are 16.7% and 5.6%.
The goal of the ASC Investigation Laboratory is to reach 100% capability of flight recorders readout, and to develop us as the recorder readout and analysis center of Asia Pacific region. For this, the laboratory carries out civil aviation flight recorders installation survey every year. The survey result shows that the laboratory maintains the readout capability of domestic CVR at 97.9%, and FDR at 97.8%, without readout capability for Russian recorder and Honeywell DVDR. Overall, the proportion of tape-based CVR is decreasing noticeably as compared to last year, presently from 14.9% to 5.6%. The tape-based FDR only exists 2.6% left. In the past we recommended to CAA to promote the use of 120 minutes CVR, there were positive responses in this survey.Only six of the 36 government aircraft have installed CVR and two have installed FDR. The other 30 government aircraft have not installed flight recorders. The installation rate is quite low on government aircraft. The proportion of CVR and FDR installation are 16.7% and 5.6%. There are no relevant regulations for the installation of recorders on government aircraft. This issue has been reported to the Executive Yuan in 2002, and the government is now paying attention to the government aircraft supervision mechanism. All the 33 government helicopters have installed Global Positioning System now.
The future plans of ASC Laboratory for CVR/FDR readout are:
There are Honeywell DVDR (980-6025-001) and Russian recorder (MAPC-?M CVR and ??P-1 FDR)that could not be readout by the Laboratory in Taiwan. Readout capability of the types should be established as soon as possible.
Maintain present readout capability of tape-based flight recorders.
During an investigation, the progress of the FDR readout could be delayed as a result of only a small portion (62.8%) of our registered civil aircraft has electronic files of flight data readout database. The Laboratory has actively set up a website named International Recorder Investigator Group (IRIG) to provide a platform for technologies and electronic files sharing to recorder specialists of the transportation investigation organizations in all countries. In case there are no electronic files from the operators, ASC could get similar files from the website quickly, thus increase the efficiency of readout.
ˇ@
Aviation Safety Council Privacy and Security Policy Tel:
886-2-8912-7388 Fax: 886-2-8912-7399 Address: 11F., No.200,
Sec. 3, Beisin Rd., Sindian City, Taipei County 231, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
Introduction
Introduction 
Aviation Safety Council 
