To direct the Secretary of Transportation to issue a regulation requiring the installation of 2 combination cockpit voice recorder and digital flight data recorder systems in each commercial passenger aircraft, currently required to carry each of those recorders, and for other purposes.

Summary: Safe Aviation and Flight Enhancement Act - Amends Federal aviation law to direct the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations requiring all commercial aircraft to carry both a cockpit voice recorder and digital flight data recorder equipped with two combination cockpit voice and digital flight data recording systems.

Mandates that one system be located as close to the cockpit as practicable, and that the other be a deployable recorder system mounted as far rear on the airframe as practicable. Sets forth minimum recorder capabilities.



Directs the Secretary to: (1) purchase and make available, at no cost, to an air carrier such fixed recorder systems and deployable recorder systems as may be necessary for the air carrier to comply with regulations; and (2) reimburse aircraft manufacturers owned or controlled by a U.S. citizen for engineering, certification, and installation costs incurred in developing and installing fixed recorder and deployable recorder systems in compliance with regulations.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Safe Aviation and Flight Enhancement 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The events of September 11, 2001, demonstrated that the 
        United States needs to do more to ensure the survivability and 
        quick retrieval of critical flight data and cockpit voice 
        recording units aboard commercial aircraft.
            (2) Increased national security threats to commercial 
        airliners demand that the United States do everything possible 
        to better secure the safety of our passengers by ensuring the 
        quick and complete recovery of critical flight data from 
        commercial air disasters for immediate analysis of potential 
        terrorism and to avoid unnecessary grounding of our commercial 
        air fleet.
            (3) In light of new commercial aviation advances, including 
        increased polar flights, increased air traffic over-water, and 
        the onset of free flight, there is increased potential for more 
        difficult location and recovery of fixed flight recorder and 
        cockpit voice recorder units.
            (4) Hundreds of millions of dollars are unnecessarily -
        expended to locate and recover ``black boxes'', especially in 
        underwater investigations, despite existing deployable recorder 
        technology currently used by the United States Armed Forces, 
        which would allow us to avoid such unnecessary and wasteful 
        costs.-
            (5) It is in the public's best interest to accomplish these 
        -improvements by implementing the March, 9, 1999, 
        recommendations A-99-16 through A-99-18 of the National 
        Transportation Safety Board, in addition to incorporating a 
        combined cockpit voice recorder and digital flight data 
        recorder system designed to eject from the rear of the aircraft 
        at the moment of an accident, so that the system will avoid the 
        direct impact forces of the crash, avoid -becoming ensnarled in 
        the wreckage or fire intensity of the crash site, and float 
        indefinitely on water.
            (6) The Navy's successful experience since 1993 with 
        deployable technology indicates that transfer of this 
        technology into the commercial sector provides an obvious way 
        to help us meet our goals to increase the survivability and 
        retrieval of recorders while reducing the time and cost of a 
        mishap, investigation, search, rescue, and recovery.
            (7) Valuable time is lost searching for fixed flight data 
        recorders in the wreckage of a crash site, especially at the 
        bottom of the ocean, and critical data is unnecessarily lost in 
        incidents in which the aircraft's electrical supply is 
        prematurely interrupted or the black boxes do not survive the 
        crash circumstances, as is evident in reviewing some of our 
        most recent and devastating air incidents, the including the 
        following:
                    (A) Neither flight data or cockpit voice recorder 
                was recovered from American Airlines Flight 11 and 
                United Airlines Flight 175 that were used in the World 
                Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001.
                    (B) It took 3 days to recover the flight data and 
                cockpit voice recorders from American Airlines Flight 
                77 that was used in the Pentagon attack on September 
                11, 2001. In addition, the cockpit voice recorder was 
                damaged beyond repair, rendering no information.
                    (C) It took 13 days to locate the cockpit voice 
                recorder and 9 days to recover the flight data recorder 
                from the air disaster involving Egypt Air Flight 990 in 
                the vicinity of Nantucket, Massachusetts, air disaster 
                on October 31, 1999.
                    (D) With respect to Swiss Air Flight 111 
                International in Halifax, Canada, on September 2, 1998, 
                the cockpit voice recorder stopped nearly 6 minutes 
before the airplane hit the water, and it took search teams 9 days to 
locate the cockpit voice recorder and 4 days to recover the flight data 
recorder.
                    (E) The cockpit voice recorder and flight data 
                recorder stopped about 40 to 50 seconds before the 
                Valuejet Flight 592 crashed on its way back to the 
                Miami, Florida, airport on May 11, 1996. It took 15 
                days to recover the cockpit voice recorder, and 2 days 
                to recover the flight data recorder from such flight 
                because the underwater locator beacon failed.
                    (F) With respect to TWA Flight 800 which exploded 
                and crashed in the vicinity of Moriches, New York, on 
                July 17, 1996, the cockpit voice recorder and flight 
                data recorder stopped at the time of the explosion, 
                even though the airplane did not hit the water for 
                another 40 to 50 seconds, and it took 7 days to recover 
                such recorders.

SEC. 3. REGULATIONS REQUIRING DEPLOYABLE RECORDERS AND OTHER PURPOSES.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 447 of title 49, United States Code is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 44727. Installation of additional flight recorders
    ``(a) Regulations.--
            ``(1) In general.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
        enactment of this section, the Secretary of Transportation 
        shall issue regulations that require in accordance with this 
        section all commercial aircraft that must carry both a cockpit 
        voice recorder and digital flight data recorder to be equipped 
        with 2 combination cockpit voice and digital flight data 
        recording systems. One system shall be located as close to the 
        cockpit as practicable, and the other shall be mounted as far 
        rear on the airframe as practicable and shall be a deployable 
        recorder system.
            ``(2) Minimum capabilities.--Both recording systems shall 
        be capable of recording all mandatory data parameters covering 
        the previous 25 hours of operation and all cockpit audio, 
        including controller-pilot data link messages for the previous 
        2 hours of operation.
            ``(3) Cockpit system.--The system located near the cockpit 
        shall be powered by the electrical bus to provide the second 
        highest reliability for operation without jeopardizing service 
        to essential or emergency loads. In addition, such system shall 
        be provided with an independent power source that is located 
        with the combination recorder and that automatically engages 
        and provides 10 minutes of operation whenever normal aircraft 
        power ceases.
            ``(4) Rear system.--The rear system shall be powered by the 
        electrical bus to provide the maximum reliability for operation 
        without jeopardizing service to essential or emergency loads. 
        In addition, such system shall be provided with an independent 
        power source that is located with the combination recorder and 
        that automatically engages and provides 10 minutes of operation 
        whenever normal aircraft power ceases.
    ``(b) Schedule for Installation of Dual Combined Systems.--The 
regulations shall require the installation of front combination fixed 
recorder systems and rear combination, deployable recorder system 
required under this section on commercial aircraft that are ordered by 
an air carrier on or after January 1, 2005.
    ``(c) Definitions.--In this section, the following definitions 
apply:
            ``(1) Commercial aircraft.--The term `commercial aircraft' 
        means--
                    ``(A) a jet aircraft with 10 or more seats or 
                greater than 12,500 pound maximum takeoff weight; and
                    ``(B) a propeller driven aircraft with greater than 
                19 seats or greater than 19,000 pound maximum takeoff 
                weight.
            ``(2) Deployable recorder system.--The term `deployable 
        recorder system' means a digital flight data recorder, cockpit 
        voice recorder and emergency locator transmitter housed as one 
        unit within an assembly that is -designed to be mounted 
        conformal to the surface of the airframe, eject from the 
        aircraft upon accident and fly away from the crash site, and 
        float indefinitely on water.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--The analysis for such chapter is amended 
by adding at the end the following:

``44727. Installation of additional flight recorders.''.

SEC. 4. PURCHASE OF FIXED AND DEPLOYABLE RECORDER SYSTEMS.

    The Secretary of Transportation shall purchase and make available, 
at no cost, to an air carrier (as defined in section 40102 of title 49, 
United States Code) such fixed recorder systems and deployable recorder 
systems as may be necessary for the air carrier to comply with the 
regulations issued under section 44727 of such title.

SEC. 5. REIMBURSEMENT OF AIRCRAFT MANUFACTURERS.

    The Secretary of Transportation shall reimburse aircraft 
manufacturers owned or controlled by a citizen of the United States (as 
defined in section 40102 of title 49, United States Code) for 
engineering, certification, and installation costs they incur in 
developing and installing fixed recorder systems and deployable 
recorder systems to comply with the regulations issued under section 
44727 of such title.