146
14 CFR Ch. I (1–1–24 Edition)
§ 121.344a
(j) Each flight data recorder system
required by this section must be in-
stalled in accordance with the require-
ments of § 25.1459(a) (except paragraphs
(a)(3)(ii) and (a)(7)), (b), (d) and (e) of
this chapter. A correlation must be es-
tablished between the values recorded
by the flight data recorder and the cor-
responding values being measured. The
correlation must contain a sufficient
number of correlation points to accu-
rately establish the conversion from
the recorded values to engineering
units or discrete state over the full op-
erating range of the parameter. Except
for airplanes having separate altitude
and airspeed sensors that are an inte-
gral part of the flight data recorder
system, a single correlation may be es-
tablished for any group of airplanes—
(1) That are of the same type;
(2) On which the flight recorder sys-
tem and its installation are the same;
and
(3) On which there is no difference in
the type design with respect to the in-
stallation of those sensors associated
with the flight data recorder system.
Documentation sufficient to convert
recorded data into the engineering
units and discrete values specified in
the applicable appendix must be main-
tained by the certificate holder.
(k) Each flight data recorder required
by this section must have an approved
device to assist in locating that re-
corder under water.
(l) The following airplanes that were
manufactured before August 18, 1997
need not comply with this section, but
must continue to comply with applica-
ble paragraphs of § 121.343 of this chap-
ter, as appropriate:
(1) Airplanes that meet the State 2
noise levels of part 36 of this chapter
and are subject to § 91.801(c) of this
chapter, until January 1, 2000. On and
after January 1, 2000, any Stage 2 air-
plane otherwise allowed to be operated
under Part 91 of this chapter must
comply with the applicable flight data
recorder requirements of this section
for that airplane.
(2) British Aerospace 1–11, General
Dynamics Convair 580, General Dynam-
ics Convair 600, General Dynamics
Convair 640, deHavilland Aircraft Com-
pany Ltd. DHC–7, Fairchild Industries
FH 227, Fokker F–27 (except Mark 50),
F–28 Mark 1000 and Mark 4000, Gulf-
stream Aerospace G–159, Jetstream 4100
Series, Lockheed Aircraft Corporation
Electra 10–A, Lockheed Aircraft Cor-
poration Electra 10–B, Lockheed Air-
craft Corporation Electra 10–E, Lock-
heed Aircraft Corporation Electra L–
188, Lockheed Martin Model 382 (L–100)
Hercules, Maryland Air Industries, Inc.
F27, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
YS–11, Short Bros. Limited SD3–30,
Short Bros. Limited SD3–60.
(m) All aircraft subject to the re-
quirements of this section that are
manufactured on or after April 7, 2010,
must have a digital flight data recorder
installed that also—
(1) Meets the requirements of
§ 25.1459(a)(3), (a)(7), and (a)(8) of this
chapter; and
(2) Retains the 25 hours of recorded
information required in paragraph (h)
of this section using a recorder that
meets the standards of TSO–C124a, or
later revision.
(n) In addition to all other applicable
requirements of this section, all Boeing
737 model airplanes manufactured after
August 18, 2000 must record the param-
eters listed in paragraphs (a)(88)
through (a)(91) of this section within
the ranges, accuracies, resolutions, and
recording intervals specified in Appen-
dix M to this part. Compliance with
this paragraph is required no later
than February 2, 2011.
[Doc. No. 28109, 62 FR 38378, July 17, 1997; 62
FR 48135, Sept. 12, 1997, as amended by Amdt.
121–300, 68 FR 42936, July 18, 2003; 68 FR 50069,
Aug. 20, 2003; Amdt. 121–338, 73 FR 12565, Mar.
7, 2008; Amdt. 121–342, 73 FR 73178, Dec. 2,
2008; Amdt. 121–338, 74 FR 32800, July 9, 2009]
§ 121.344a Digital flight data recorders
for 10–19 seat airplanes.
(a) Except as provided in paragraph
(f) of this section, no person may oper-
ate under this part a turbine-engine-
powered airplane having a passenger
seating configuration, excluding any
required crewmember seat, of 10 to 19
seats, that was brought onto the U.S.
register after, or was registered outside
the United States and added to the op-
erator’s U.S. operations specifications
after, October 11, 1991, unless it is
equipped with one or more approved
flight recorders that use a digital
method of recording and storing data
147
Federal Aviation Administration, DOT
§ 121.344a
and a method of readily retrieving that
data from the storage medium. On or
before August 20, 2001, airplanes
brought onto the U.S. register after Oc-
tober 11, 1991, must comply with either
the requirements in this section or the
applicable paragraphs in § 135.152 of this
chapter. In addition, by August 20, 2001.
(1) The parameters listed in
§§ 121.344(a)(1) through 121.344(a)(18) of
this part must be recorded with the
ranges, accuracies, and resolutions
specified in Appendix B of part 135 of
this chapter, except that—
(i) Either the parameter listed in
§ 121.344 (a)(12) or (a)(15) of this part
must be recorded; either the param-
eters listed in § 121.344(a)(13) or (a)(16)
of this part must be recorded; and ei-
ther the parameter listed in
§ 121.344(a)(14) or (a)(17) of this part
must be recorded.
(ii) For airplanes with more than two
engines, the parameter described in
§ 121.344(a)(18) of this part must also be
recorded if sufficient capacity is avail-
able on the existing recorder to record
that parameter;
(iii) Parameters listed in
§§ 121.344(a)(12) through 121.344(a)(17) of
this part each may be recorded from a
single source;
(iv) Any parameter for which no
value is contained in Appendix B of
part 135 of this chapter must be re-
corded within the ranges, accuracies,
and resolutions specified in Appendix
M of this part.
(2) Commensurate with the capacity
of the recording system (FDAU or
equivalent and the DFDR), the param-
eters listed in §§ 121.344(a)(19) through
121.344(a)(22) of this part also must be
recorded within the ranges, accuracies,
resolutions, and recording intervals
specified in Appendix B of part 135 of
this chapter.
(3) The approved flight recorder re-
quired by this section must be installed
as soon as practicable, but no later
than the next heavy maintenance
check or equivalent after August 18,
1999. A heavy maintenance check is
considered to be any time an airplane
is scheduled to be out of service for 4
more days and is scheduled to include
access to major structural components.
(b) For a turbine-engine-powered air-
planes having a passenger seating con-
figuration, excluding any required
crewmember seat, of 10 to 19 seats, that
are manufactured after August 18, 2000.
(1) The parameters listed in
§§ 121.344(a)(1) through 121.344(a)(57) of
this part, must be recorded within the
ranges, accuracies, resolutions, and re-
cording intervals specified in Appendix
M of this part.
(2) Commensurate with the capacity
of the recording system, all additional
parameters listed in § 121.344(a) of this
part for which information sources are
installed and which are connected to
the recording system, must be recorded
within the ranges, accuracies, resolu-
tions, and sampling intervals specified
in Appendix M of this part by August
20, 2001.
(c) For all turbine-engine-powered
airplanes having a passenger seating
configuration, excluding any required
crewmember seats, of 10 to 19 seats,
that are manufactured after August 19,
2002, the parameters listed in
§ 121.344(a)(1) through (a)(88) of this
part must be recorded within the
ranges, accuracies, resolutions, and re-
cording intervals specified in Appendix
M of this part.
(d) Each flight data recorder system
required by this section must be in-
stalled in accordance with the require-
ments of § 23.1459(a) (except paragraphs
(a)(3)(ii) and (6)), (b), (d) and (e) of this
chapter. A correlation must be estab-
lished between the values recorded by
the flight data recorder and the cor-
responding values being measured. The
correlation must contain a sufficient
number of correlation points to accu-
rately establish the conversion from
the recorded values to engineering
units or discrete state over the full op-
erating range of the parameter. A sin-
gle correlation may be established for
any group of airplanes—
(1) That are of the same type;
(2) On which the flight recorder sys-
tem and its installation are the same;
and
(3) On which there is no difference in
the type design with respect to the in-
stallation of those sensors associated
with the flight data recorder system.
Correlation documentation must be
maintained by the certificate holder.
148
14 CFR Ch. I (1–1–24 Edition)
§ 121.345
(e) All airplanes subject to this sec-
tion are also subject to the require-
ments and exceptions stated in
§ 121.344(g) through (k) and § 121.346.
(f) For airplanes that were manufac-
tured before August 18, 1997, the fol-
lowing airplane types need not comply
with this section, but must continue to
comply with applicable paragraphs of
§ 135.152 of this chapter, as appropriate:
Beech Aircraft–99 Series, Beech Air-
craft 1300, Beech Aircraft 1900C,
Construcciones Aeronauticas, S.A.
(CASA) C–212, deHavilland DHC–6,
Dornier 228, HS–748, Embraer EMB 110,
Jetstream 3101, Jetstream 3201, Fair-
child Aircraft SA–226, Fairchild Metro
SA–227.
(g) All airplanes subject to the re-
quirements of this section that are
manufactured on or after April 7, 2010,
must have a digital flight data recorder
installed that also—
(1) Meets the requirements in
§ 23.1459(a)(3), (a)(6), and (a)(7) or
§ 25.1459(a)(3), (a)(7), and (a)(8) of this
chapter, as applicable; and
(2) Retains the 25 hours of recorded
information required in § 121.344(g)
using a recorder that meets the stand-
ards of TSO–C124a, or later revision.
[Doc. No. 28109, 62 FR 38380, July 17, 1997; 62
FR 48135, Sept. 12, 1997; 62 FR 65202, Dec. 11,
1997, as amended by Amdt. 121–300, 68 FR
42936, July 18, 2003; Amdt. 121–338, 73 FR
12566, Mar. 7, 2008; Amdt. 121–338, 74 FR 32801,
July 9, 2009; Amdt. 121–347, 75 FR 7356, Feb.
19, 2010]
§ 121.345 Radio equipment.
(a) No person may operate an air-
plane unless it is equipped with radio
equipment required for the kind of op-
eration being conducted.
(b) Where two independent (separate
and complete) radio systems are re-
quired by §§ 121.347 and 121.349, each
system must have an independent an-
tenna installation except that, where
rigidly supported nonwire antennas or
other antenna installations of equiva-
lent reliability are used, only one an-
tenna is required.
(c) ATC transponder equipment in-
stalled within the time periods indi-
cated below must meet the perform-
ance and environmental requirements
of the following TSO’s:
(1)
Through January 1, 1992:
(i) Any
class of TSO-C74b or any class of TSO-
C74c as appropriate, provided that the
equipment was manufactured before
January 1, 1990; or
(ii) The appropriate class of TSO-C112
(Mode S).
(2)
After January 1, 1992:
The appro-
priate class of TSO-C112 (Mode S). For
purposes of paragraph (c) (2) of this sec-
tion, ‘‘installation’’ does not include—
(i) Temporary installation of TSO-
C74b or TSO-C74c substitute equip-
ment, as appropriate, during mainte-
nance of the permanent equipment;
(ii) Reinstallation of equipment after
temporary removal for maintenance; or
(iii) For fleet operations, installation
of equipment in a fleet aircraft after
removal of the equipment for mainte-
nance from another aircraft in the
same operator’s fleet.
[Doc. No. 6258, 29 FR 19205, Dec. 31, 1964, as
amended by Amdt. 121–101, 37 FR 28499, Dec.
27, 1972; Amdt. 121–190, 52 FR 3391, Feb. 3,
1987]
§ 121.346 Flight data recorders: fil-
tered data.
(a) A flight data signal is filtered
when an original sensor signal has been
changed in any way, other than
changes necessary to:
(1) Accomplish analog to digital con-
version of the signal;
(2) Format a digital signal to be
DFDR compatible; or
(3) Eliminate a high frequency com-
ponent of a signal that is outside the
operational bandwidth of the sensor.
(b) An original sensor signal for any
flight recorder parameter required to
be recorded under § 121.344 may be fil-
tered only if the recorded signal value
continues to meet the requirements of
Appendix B or M of this part, as appli-
cable.
(c) For a parameter described in
§ 121.344(a) (12) through (17), (42), or (88),
or the corresponding parameter in Ap-
pendix B of this part, if the recorded
signal value is filtered and does not
meet the requirements of Appendix B
or M of this part, as applicable, the cer-
tificate holder must:
(1) Remove the filtering and ensure
that the recorded signal value meets
the requirements of Appendix B or M of
this part, as applicable; or