EU adopts new aviation rules on aircraft tracking

The European Union (EU) adopted new rules for flight recorders, underwater locating devices and aircraft tracking systems, said the European Commission in a press release on Wednesday.

These were used to address the issues raised by the accident of Air France flight AF447 in June 2009 and the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 in March 2014, according to the press release.

Operators of large airplanes must establish, as part of the system for exercising operational control over the flight, an aircraft tracking system, according to the new rules.

Moreover, newly manufactured large airplanes are to be equipped "with robust and automatic means" to accurately locate the end point of flight following an accident in which the airplane is severely damaged, so as to prevent the disappearance of an airplane where all communications and its track are lost abruptly.

The technology of flight recorders would also be enhanced, and the recording length of the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) would be extended from two hours to 25 hours.

Besides, the protection of CVR recordings would be reinforced, in particular during their maintenance. Finally, flight recorders would be equipped with locating devices with an extended transmission time so as to facilitate their localization.

"For the general public, it is not understandable that aircraft are not permanently tracked wherever they fly. The rules we adopted today aim to address this deficiency and to prevent the reoccurrence of the disappearances of flights AF447 and MH370," EU Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc.

All these new rules would apply to all EU operators exploiting passenger airplanes of more than 27 tons and carrying more than 19 passengers as well as cargo aircraft of more than 45.5 tons, said the press release. Endit