FAA Issues New Guidance to Prevent CVR Data Loss

Safety alert aims to ensure critical cockpit voice recorder audio is preserved for accident investigations.

Meg Godlewski

Wednesday, July 08, 2026 at 10:00 AM ET

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Meg Godlewski

Prompted by the loss of cockpit voice recorder (CVR) data from Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, the FAA is mandating new protections to ensure such information is preserved following accidents. [Credit: Shutterstock]

Key Takeaways:

The FAA issued a Safety Alert for Operators (SAFO) instructing airlines to shut off power to cockpit voice recorders (CVRs) immediately after an incident to prevent data overwriting and preserve critical audio.
This directive stems from an NTSB recommendation following the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 incident, where the CVR data was overwritten, hindering the investigation into flight crew communication difficulties.
Airlines are advised to integrate clear CVR preservation procedures into their flight, maintenance, and dispatch manuals, and to use their Safety Management Systems (SMS) to ensure these instructions are effectively implemented.

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The FAA is developing recommendations to protect information captured by the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) of an aircraft that has been involved in an accident or reportable incident.

The agency has issued a Safety Alert for Operators (SAFO) advising airline crews and maintenance teams to shut off power to the CVR to protect critical audio data after a reportable event. CVRs are designed with a finite amount of memory that is overwritten, unless the circuit breaker for the device is pulled.