"Smile, You're on Candid Camera"
NTSB's recommendation to put CIRs on the Most Wanted list of recommendations to the FAA.
By Les Abend
February 2005
 Many of us grew up with the antics of Allen Funt and “Candid Camera.” The premise of the TV program was to capture people on film in the act of being themselves. The voyeuristic side of our personalities found perverse amusement in watching others squirm. We rationalized our voyeurism with the notion that it was all done in good humor. Humor does not appear to be the goal of today’s reality TV shows, however. And now, the cockpit of an airplane may set the stage for another form of reality show.
The NTSB has put Cockpit Image Recorders (CIR) on their Most Wanted list of recommendations to the FAA. The CIR recommendations come as a result of some significant fatal accidents. The NTSB researched over 100 investigated accidents involving commercial aircraft not equipped with any type of flight recorder. One in particular involved a Cessna Caravan that crashed with no survivors into the mountains of Montrose, Colorado, on October 8, 1997. The other accident involved a no-survivor crash of a Beech King Air 100, carrying Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone in October 2002. Since neither airplane was equipped with a Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) or a Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR), the NTSB has implied that a timelier and more definitive probable cause may have been forthcoming had a CIR been aboard.
The published NTSB recommendations involve variations of the same theme as they apply to general aviation airplanes. One recommendation is for Part 121, 125 and 135 operated aircraft manufactured after January 1, 2003, to install a CIR if they are also required to have both a digital flight data DFDR and a cockpit voice CVR. Another recommendation that may apply to some general aviation airplanes is for turbine-powered aircraft operating under Part 135, Part 121 and Part 91 to be retrofitted with a CIR if they are manufactured before January 1, 2007, and are not currently equipped with a CVR. The latter recommendation would require my fellow Flying columnist Dick Karl to install a voice recorder in his Cheyenne.
Larger category aircraft are covered by a similar CIR recommendation. The basis for this recommendation is some high profile accident investigations. The NTSB claims that an image recorder could have supplemented the DFDR and CVR data with valuable information.
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