Turbine Biz Aircraft Included in FAA CVR Upgrade Rule

The FAA has increased the required minimum recording time for cockpit voice recorders (CVRs) initially on newly manufactured turbine business and commercial aircraft from two to 25 hours under a new final rule. The rule stems from a December 2023 notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) and the 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act.

Three compliance timeframes are established. The first requires the 25-hour CVR for aircraft manufactured one year or more after the enactment of the reauthorization act, or May 16, 2025, and operating under Part 121 or transport-category aircraft designed for operations by any air carrier or foreign air carrier type-certified with 30 or more passenger seats.

Second, aircraft manufactured after Feb. 2, 2026, that are required to be equipped with a CVR operating under Parts 91, 125, or 135 with an mtow of 59,525 pounds or more with 29 or fewer passenger seats must be equipped with a 25-hour CVR by Feb. 2, 2027.

Third, aircraft manufactured on or after Feb. 2, 2029—three years from the effective date of the final rule—operating under Parts 91, 125, or 135, and with a mtow of 59,524 pounds or less, are required to be equipped with a 25-hour CVR,

The question of retrofitting 25-hour CVRs on currently operating covered aircraft, including those produced before May 25, 2025, is literally up in the air. According to the 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act, "Not later than six years after the date of enactment of this Act, [May 16, 2030] a covered operator may not operate a covered aircraft unless such aircraft has a cockpit voice recorder installed that retains the last 25 hours of recorded information."

However, the FAA said retrofitting is not included in the final rule for two reasons. First, the Act specifically states that nothing in the bill “shall be construed as rescoping, constraining, or otherwise mandating delays” to the NPRM. Accordingly, FAA "is not rescoping the rule to include a retrofit requirement. The second reason for not including the retrofit requirement is that "the induced costs need further examination, as retrofitting increases the number of aircraft requiring installation of these CVRs by over two-thirds."

Of the 114 comment submissions in response to the NPRM. Bombardier, Dassault, Embraer, Gulfstream, and the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) shared concerns over the proposed compliance timeframes to equip with 25-hour CVRs. They came up with several paths for the FAA to consider, but due to the 2024 Reauthorization Act in the period between the NPRM being published and the final rule, the FAA said it "no longer has discretion over the compliance time frames for covered aircraft."

Comments from ATR, Bombardier, and GAMA also questioned the FAA’s proposal to require aircraft operating under Part 91 to carry 25-hour CVRs. They believe aircraft operating under Part 91, although capable of long-duration flights, are often used for shorter duration flights and therefore do not need a CVR capable of recording for 25 hours. Bombardier, Dassault, Embraer, and Gulfstream also claimed that the increase in recording time could impact the certification applications for smaller aircraft.