NTSB PRESS RELEASE
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National Transportation Safety Board
Washington, DC 20594

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 1, 2004
SB-04-21

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NTSB TO HOLD PUBLIC HEARING ON
COCKPIT VIDEO RECORDERS LATER THIS MONTH

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WASHINGTON, D.C. - The National Transportation Safety Board
will hold a two-day public hearing on the feasibility and
benefits of cockpit imaging (video) recorders. The hearing
will convene at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, July 27, at the NTSB's
Conference Center and Board Room, 429 L'Enfant Plaza, S.W.,
Washington, D.C.

The Safety Board has recommended that commercial
aircraft be equipped with video recorders. In 2000,
following problems retrieving data from cockpit voice
recorders and flight data recorders in a series of major
investigations (among them the crash of ValuJet flight 592
in the Everglades in 1996 and the crash of EgyptAir flight
990 in the Atlantic Ocean in 1999), the Board recommended to
the Federal Aviation Administration that transport category
aircraft be equipped with cockpit image recorders to capture
information on crew performance and on conditions in the
cockpit.

Also in 2000, the Board recommended that the FAA
require video recorders, in lieu of flight data recorders,
in the smaller turbine-powered aircraft frequently employed
in scheduled and nonscheduled Part 135 operations. Examples
of aircraft that had no recorders but would be covered by
the recommendation were the Cessna Caravan that crashed in
Montrose, Colorado in 1997, killing all 10 persons aboard,
and the Raytheon King Air that crashed in Minnesota in 2000,
killing Senator Paul Wellstone and six others.

Installation of cockpit image recorders is an issue on
the Board's Most Wanted List of Safety Recommendations.

NTSB Member Carol Carmody will chair the hearing.
Expected to testify are witnesses from the federal
government, both civilian and military, recorder
manufacturers, airplane manufacturers, and commercial
pilots.

"We have had far too many accident investigations in
recent years where vital information that was lost could
have been documented with the help of cockpit imaging
recorders," Member Carmody said. "In this hearing we'll
hear from all major players about the feasibility and
benefits of these recorders, and about what legal
protections are necessary to enhance our investigation
capability."

An agenda for the hearing will be posted on the
Board's website when available. The hearing will be webcast
on the Board's website at www.ntsb.gov. - 30 -

NTSB Media Contact: Ted Lopatkiewicz
(202) 314-6100