ED Decision 2021/008/R

Amendment of requirements for flight recorders and underwater locating devices — Certification specifications, acceptable means of compliance, and guidance material for locating an aircraft in distress

The objective of this Decision is to facilitate the implementation of point CAT.GEN.MPA.210 ‘Location of an aircraft in distress — Aeroplanes’ of Annex IV (Part-CAT) to Regulation (EU) No 965/2012 (‘Air OPS Regulation’).

This Decision amends certification specifications (CSs), acceptable means of compliance (AMC), and guidance material (GM), to support the implementation of point CAT.GEN.MPA.210. The scope of this Decision includes air operations (Air OPS), initial airworthiness (IAW), and air traffic management (ATM).

The amendments are expected to increase safety as they will facilitate locating an accident scene. This will increase the chances of rescuing accident survivors, and accelerate the collection of evidence that is necessary for determining the accident causes. In addition, these amendments are expected to ensure consistency with the existing requirements on flight recorders, emergency locator transmitters (ELTs), and low-frequency (8.8 kHz) underwater locating devices (ULDs).