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Aviation

Volume 494: debated on Monday 15 June 2009

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport for what reasons data collected in in-flight flight recorders are not transmitted in real time to (a) the Civil Aviation Authority and (b) air traffic control regulators; and what research has been undertaken into encryption of such data. (279352)

Cockpit voice recordings are not transmitted in real time because of the need to ensure data security. There is a potential for unscrupulous surveillance and interventions, which are capable of compromising the data. There is currently no internationally accepted method available for the encryption of these recordings, although industry-led research is under way.

The limiting factors for the transmission of flight data recordings are the technical and financial challenge of fitting appropriate equipment to the aircraft and the development of the necessary satellite bandwidth.