Safe Aviation and Flight Enhancement Act of 2014

Summary: Safe Aviation and Flight Enhancement Act of 2014 - Directs the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to require all commercial passenger aircraft ordered by an air carrier on or after January 1, 2016, to be equipped with a deployable recorder system as the second combination FDR/CVR recorder system installed under International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) flight recorder standards. Defines: (1) &quot;commercial passenger aircraft&quot; to mean a jet aircraft with a maximum certificated take-off mass over 15,000 kilograms that is required to be equipped with two combination recorder systems in accordance with ICAO requirements; and (2) &quot;deployable recorder system&quot; to mean a flight data recorder, cockpit voice recorder, and emergency locator transmitter housed in one crash protected, floatable unit that meets the performance specifications under specified standards of the FAA and the European Organization for Civil Aviation Equipment. 

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Safe Aviation and Flight Enhancement 
Act of 2014''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Whereas in 2012 the International Civil Aviation 
        Organization (``ICAO'') adopted a standard requiring all new 
        aircraft with a maximum certificated take-off mass over 15,000 
        kilograms for which a type certificate is issued on or after 1 
        January, 2016, and which are required to be equipped with both 
        a digital flight recorder (referred to in this Act as ``FDR''), 
        and a cockpit voice recorder (``CVR''), to be equipped with 2 
        combination FDR/CVR recorder systems.
            (2) It is in the public's best interest that the second 
        combination FDR/CVR system installed under the new ICAO 
        standard uses a deployable combination FDR/CVR/Emergency 
        Locator Transmitter (``ELT'') system to: maximize 
        survivability; prevent the need for underwater recovery of both 
        black boxes in water incidents; improve timely location of the 
        aircraft, accident site and survivors; and to ensure rapid 
        recovery of the FDR/CVR data for timely safety and security 
        analysis in all crash scenarios.
            (3) Deployable recorder systems combine an FDR, a CVR, and 
        ELT into one crash hardened, survivable ``black box'', which 
        releases from the aircraft upon crash impact with land, water, 
        and in the event of in-air explosion, enabling it to avoid the 
        crash impact site and float indefinitely on water to avoid 
        time-consuming and costly underwater search efforts.
            (4) Deployable FDR/CVR/ELT black boxes send a distress 
        alert tracking signal to the free, global constellation of 
        Search and Rescue (SAR) satellite transponders known as COSPAS-
        SARSAT; providing the position of the aircraft at point of 
        impact, aircraft tail number, country of origin, and location 
        of the deployable FDR/CVR/ELT black box for quick recovery and 
        analysis.
            (5) Recent commercial aviation accidents exemplify a 
        growing trend in difficult and costly underwater aircraft CVR/
        FDR location and recovery efforts:
                    (A) March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, 
                disappeared with 239 passengers and crew. International 
                search and recovery efforts for the aircraft and black 
                boxes are ongoing involving 29 nations and hundreds of 
                millions of dollars in resources, estimated to result 
                in the most expensive search and recovery mission in 
                aviation history.
                    (B) June 1, 2009, Air France Flight 447, crashed 
                into the Atlantic Ocean with 216 passengers and 12 crew 
                members. Despite locating aircraft wreckage within 5 
                days, it still took nearly two years and an estimated 
                cost of over $160,000,000 to recover the FDR and CVR 
                from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean at a depth of 
                12,000 feet.
                    (C) June 30, 2009, Yemenia Airlines IY626, crashed 
                off of the coast of Comoros, with 152 passengers and 
                aircrew. The sole survivor, a 12-year-old girl, was 
                found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean 
                for thirteen hours. Her accounts estimated 30 to 40 
                passengers survived the crash but succumbed to 
                hypothermia due to the delay in locating the downed 
                aircraft. The FDR and CVR were not recovered until 
                nearly two months later, at a depth of 3,900 feet.
                    (D) January 1, 2007, Adam Air Flight 574, carrying 
                102 passengers and aircrew crashed off the coast of 
                Indonesia. The FDR and CVR were located nearly one 
                month later, but could not be recovered until seven 
                months later on due to the difficulty of the underwater 
                environment. The FDR and CVR were found at a depth of 
                6,600 feet and 4,600 feet apart.
            (6) Countries with extensive search and rescue 
        capabilities, such as Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, 
        Japan, Norway, United Kingdom, and the United States, have 
        equipped military platforms, including commercial equivalent 
        aircraft with automatic deployable black box technology.
            (7) Following the crash of Air France Flight 447, the 
        French Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses (BEA) led the 
        International Flight Data Recovery Working Group, consisting of 
        over 100 safety experts, that scored deployable FDR/CVR/ELT 
        systems the highest among all evaluated technologies to improve 
        aircraft and black box localization and recovery.
            (8) There are no recurring service/data fees associated 
        with the use of deployable FDR/CVR/ELT systems. The COSPAS-
        SARSAT satellites, network and supporting infrastructure that 
        receives the alert signal from the deployable FDR/CVR/ELT with 
        the aircraft crash location and black box location is a free, 
        global safety service managed by governments around the world.
            (9) In accordance with Public Law 110-53, (Implementing 
        Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007), the 
        Transportation Security Administration conducted a pilot 
        program that successfully tested in concept, the ability of 
        automatic deployable recorder systems to improve rapid access 
        to flight data following commercial aviation crashes, while 
        also providing localization of downed aircraft and potential 
        survivors.

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

    (a) Regulations.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration 
shall issue regulations that require all commercial passenger aircraft 
defined under this Act be equipped with a deployable recorder system as 
the second combination FDR/CVR recorder system installed under 
International Civil Aviation Organization Annex 6, Part I, Amendment 
35--6.3.4.5.2 Combination Recorders.
    (b) Schedule for Compliance.--The regulations under subsection (a) 
shall require the installation of the automatic deployable recorder 
system required under this section on commercial aircraft that are 
ordered by an air carrier on or after January 1, 2016.
    (c) Definitions.--In this Act, the following definitions apply:
            (1) Commercial aircraft.--The term ``commercial passenger 
        aircraft'' means a jet aircraft with a maximum certificated 
        take-off mass over 15,000 kilograms, and which are required to 
        be equipped with 2 combination FDR/CVR recorder systems in 
        accordance with ICAO Annex 6, Part I, Amendment 6.3.4.5.2.
            (2) Deployable recorder system.--The term ``deployable 
        recorder system'' means a flight data recorder, cockpit voice 
        recorder, and emergency locator transmitter housed in one crash 
        protected, floatable unit that meets the performance 
        specifications for a Deployable Recorder system under United 
        States Federal Aviation Administration Technical Standard Order 
        123c (CVR), Technical Standard Order 124c (FDR), and Minimum 
        Operational Performance Specifications for Deployable Recorders 
        under EUROCAE ED-112A and all subsequent updates to such 
        requirements.