CITIZEN'S PETITION 

John J. Coleman, PhD 

6981 Tepper Drive 

Clifton, Virginia 20124-1600 

Tel: 703-502-9307 

Email: jcoleman30@.cox.net 

March 18, 2014 

Administrator 

Federal Aviation Administration 

800 Independence Avenue, SW 

Washington, DC 20591 

To: Federal Aviation Authority, Department of Transportation ("FAA") 

From: John J. Coleman ("Petitioner") 

Subject: Petition for rulemaking procedure 

The undersigned petitioner, John J. Coleman, submits this petition under Title 14, United States 

Code § 11.17, § 11.39, § 11.61, § 11.63, § 11.71, as well as the applicable provisions of the 

Administrative Procedure Act, Title 5, United States Code § 500, to request the Administrator of 

the Federal Aviation Authority ("FAA") to undertake a rulemaking procedure to amend Title 14, 

Code of Federal Regulations in accordance with the action requested herein. 

A. Action Requested 

The Administrator of the FAA is hereby requested to commence a rulemaking procedure to 

require cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders installed aboard commercial airliners 

approved and certified to operate within U.S. territory to communicate their data on a real-time 

basis via telemetry or wireless (radio) communications to ground stations managed by the 

airlines in accordance with regulations promulgated by the FAA. 

B. Statement of Grounds 

Although the safety record of commercial airliners is excellent, since the terrorist attacks on the 

World Trade Center in New York City on September 11, 2001, authorities have been concerned 

about new and more destructive uses of commercial airliners to pursue similar threats against the 

U.S. and other western nations. On or about March 7, 2014, a Malaysian Airways Boeing 777 

airliner (Flight 370) with 239 persons aboard left its monitored flight path and, as it now appears, 

was intentionally diverted to an unknown location by a rogue crew member or hijacker. For more 

than ten days, the international community, including the U.S., has expended enormous 

resources searching for this plane and its passengers. Presently, more than ten days later, the 

whereabouts of this plane remains unknown. 

FAA-140325-014 

1 
CITIZEN'S PETITION 

Authorities have focused their investigation of Flight 370 on locating and decrypting the elusive 

"black box" or data flight recorder, which they expect will reveal what occurred. The reported 

search area is approximately six times the size of the U.S. and consists mostly of deep ocean 

waters. According to some experts, the longer the search takes, the less likely it is that the plane 

and its flight data recorder will be found. 

In the event that Flight 370 was intentionally diverted to a remote landing site in order to be used 

at some future date to launch a terrorist attack against the U.S. or an ally, the extensive search 

now underway will have been a waste of time and effort. 

In this day and age, when radio telemetry is able to provide clear images of the farthest reaches 

of our solar system and even beyond, it is time to declare self-contained cockpit voice recorders 

and flight data recorders obsolete. 

If these devices were required by FAA rule to transmit their data signals to company officials on 

the ground, authorities would know whenever a flight- for whatever reason(s) - is diverted from 

its official flight plan. If a situation in the U.S. or involving a U.S.-flag airliner, were to occur as 

in the case with Malaysian Airways Flight 370, the status of such a flight would be known within 

seconds. In case of a terrorist action, this, too, would be known and give the authorities an 

opportunity to respond immediately. Even if, for whatever reason, data monitoring was not 

performed on a "live" and continuous basis, the ability to retrieve such data, after the fact when 

needed, would serve a similar purpose. 

This is not only a matter of national security but also a matter involving passenger safety. 

Moreover, if these systems are implemented by the rulemaking process, they likely will have the 

effect of preventing terrorists from hijacking commercial airliners because they would know 

beforehand that their actions will be known immediately by persons on the ground who are 

monitoring the flights. Thus, the rule being proposed herein not only will assist in responding to 

terrorist actions, but actually help to prevent such actions in the first place. 

Finally, the proposed rulemaking would not "create" a new system, per se, but simply upgrade 

the existing systems to take advantage of technological advances in communications and data 

transmission developed since cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders were required 

many years ago to be installed on commercial airliners certified for use in the U.S. Commercial 

airliners already communicate directly and continuously with their companies, as well as with air 

traffic controllers. What the proposed rule would do is to make some of these communications 

automatic, rather than crew-controlled. 

C. Environmental Impact 

The rulemaking procedure proposed herein by the undersigned petitioner would have no impact 

on the environment. Commercial airliners already employ broad arrays of avionics and other 

electronic communication systems that use radio signals to communicate automatically with 

satellite and ground stations intended to provide guidance and safety information. This proposed 

rule would simply add an additional radio system for the purposes described above. 

2 

FAA-140325-014 
CITIZEN'S PETITION 

D. Economic Impact 

The economic impact on the commercial airline industry for the equipment needed to comply 

with the rule being proposed herein would be modest, given the relative costs of existing 

avionics and communications systems. The operation of a central ground station would likely 

cost the U.S. Government a sizable but nonetheless reasonable sum under the circumstances. Part 

of all of this cost might be recoverable through existing security surcharges on the purchase of 

commercial flight tickets. In any case, it is believed that the safety of the commercial airline 

industry will more than offset and adverse economic impact occasioned by the proposed 

rulemaking. 

E. Certification 

The undersigned certifies, that, to the best knowledge and belief of the undersigned, this petition 

includes all information and views on which this petition relies, and that it includes 

r rese tative data and information known to the petitioner that are unfavorable to the petition. 

John J. Coleman, PhD 

6981 Tepper Drive 

Clifton, VA 20124-1600 

Tel: 703-502-9307 

FAA-140325-014 

3