Recommendation

In relation to R20060006, I understand that the Australian
Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is already working on this issue.
The Aviation Operations Branch within the Department of Transport
and Regional Services is prepared to assist the ATSB as
necessary.

CASA notes that this recommendation is primarily directed to
DOTARS, which is responsible for administration of Part 111B of the
Civil Aviation Act 1988. In accordance with the
recommendation, CASA will cooperate with the Department in the
development of any proposals to amend the provisions of Part
111B.

However, CASA notes that there may be no need for a maintenance
check of the CVR to be conducted by actually listening to the
tape.  It is likely that a functional system check can confirm
the fidelity of the equipment rather than actually needing to
listen to the tapes.

Part IIIB of the Civil Aviation Act 1988 was amended from I July
2009 to allow for the copying and disclosure of aircraft Cockpit
Voice Recorders (CVRs) for the purpose of testing their functioning
and reliability.  



The previous confidentiality requirements could be interpreted as
making it unlawful to copy or disclose a cockpit voice recording
for legitimate maintenance purposes. The amendment clarifies the
situation while requiring that certain conditions must be met in
order to track and control any copying or disclosure to preserve
confidentiality.

The Act amendment required permission to be given in regulations
for those people needing to copy and disclose CVR information. To
give effect to this regulation Civil Aviation Regulation (CAR) 50G
was inserted in the Civil Aviation Regulations 1988, and came into
effect from 1 July 2009 to coincide with the Act amendment.



For the purpose of subsections 32AP (3) and (3A) of the Act,
 the following persons are authorised to copy and disclose CVR
information when checking the equipment to determine it is
functioning and reliable by CAR 50G:



1.  'staff members' as defined by the Transport Safety
Investigation Act 2003 (i.e. Australian Transport Safety Bureau
employees) who have been trained with respect to the replay and
analysis of CVR recordings, and have been briefed on the
requirements of Part IIIB of the Act; and



2.  persons who are already authorised under the CARs to
carry out maintenance on CVRs who are acting under the authority of
the Certificate of Approval (COA) holder covering the maintenance,
have been trained by the COA holder with respect to the replay and
analysis of CVR recordings, and have been briefed by the COA holder
on the requirement of Part IIIB of the Act.