Tennessee U.S. Representatives Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) and Steve Cohen (D-TN-09) have introduced the Safe Aviation Flight Enhancement (SAFE) Act in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The bill, H.R.3634, would help investigators better understand the reasons behind an aircraft crash through the implementation of new on-board technology.
If enacted, the bill would require new aircraft to be outfitted with the following technology:
- A second flight data and cockpit voice recorder system that enables data recovery without underwater search missions, such as a black box that floats on water or transmits flight data;
- A method to broadcast the aircraft’s location within 6 nautical miles;
- An underwater locator device that functions for at least 90 days; and
- An extension of cockpit voice recorder recording time from two hours to 25 hours.
Burchett and Cohen’s bill would direct the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to issue the proposed regulations.
“When a plane goes down, it’s important we understand exactly how it happened as soon as possible,” Burchett said in a statement. “It’s unacceptable that sometimes it takes days, weeks, or even years to recover the black box that can help us find answers. I’m proud to support this measure to speed up that process which could improve aircraft safety and even save lives.”
Cohen added, “The SAFE Act presents a commonsense solution for assuring that aircraft crashes can be located quickly and that accurate causes of crashes can be swiftly identified by investigators. It will save substantial time and expense in recovering black boxes and will potentially save lives. I appreciate my colleague Tim Burchett’s support for this measure and hope to see it move through our Subcommittee, the full committee, a floor vote and become law.”
Both Burchett and Cohen serve on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and on the Subcommittee on Aviation.
According to EU Flight Compensation, there are between 70-90 plane crashes per year worldwide, including both commercial planes and privately-owned ones.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “Tim Burchett” by Congressman Tim Burchett. Photo “Steve Cohen” by Congressman Steve Cohen. Background Photo “Airplane” by VOO QQQ.
past time for chicken cohen to hit the road.
Bwaahaa! Excellent Joe! Petey is probably too busy “chest feeding” to be bothered.
Why hasn’t “Mayor Pete” made this mandatory? Or is he still on maternity leave? But things are probably better when “Mayor Pete” is hiding someplace sucking his thumb.