Honeywell, Curtiss-Wright Developing 25-Hour Recorder for Cockpit

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has called for the installation of 25-hour cockpit voice recorders at the factory in new aircraft and retrofitting existing airliners. [Credit: Pixabay]

Honeywell and Curtiss-Wright corporations announced Tuesday that they are collaborating on developing a combination cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) with 25 hours of recording time.

The HCR-25 is now available for certain Boeing and Airbus airliners in response to a mandate from the 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act.

“The Honeywell HCR-25 addresses the need for cockpit voice and data recorders that has been mandated by the FAA to increase flight safety,” said Steve Hadden, vice president of services and connectivity for Honeywell Aerospace Technologies. “Honeywell’s collaboration with Curtiss-Wright leverages our joint capabilities to deliver superior audio clarity in combination with data streaming to enable next-generation access to aircraft performance.”

The HCR-25 combination cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) features 25 hours of recording time. [Courtesy: Honeywell/Curtiss-Wright]

The need for equipment such as the HCR-25 addresses a letter from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) calling for installing 25-hour CVRs at the factory in new aircraft and retrofitting existing airliners.

“The letter highlighted 14 NTSB investigations since 2018 that were hampered by a lack of CVR data because that data was overwritten due to insufficient recording capacity,” Honeywell said.

According to Honeywell, the HCR-25 satisfies the reauthorization act mandate for 25 hours of record capability. While the mandate specifies that all new aircraft must be so equipped, existing airliners have six years to be retrofitted to meet compliance with the law.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on AVweb.