The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has unveiled new proposals to facilitate easy location of an aircraft and its flight recorders in the event of an unfortunate incident, the first tough official reaction after the disappearance of MH370.

The new proposals are for flight recorders and underwater locating devices for easier recovery of aircraft black boxes.

These requirements by EASA include the extension of the transmission time of underwater locating devices (ULD) fitted on flight recorders from the present 30 days to 90 days.

"The proposed changes are expected to increase safety by facilitating the recovery of information by safety investigation authorities."

EASA also recommends to equip large aircraft flying over oceans with the latest type of unit load device (ULD) with a longer locating range, compared with the current flight recorders ULDs.

In addition, aircraft may be fitted with equipment to determine the location of an accident with an accuracy within 6nm.

The proposals also call for the increase of minimum recording duration of cockpit voice recorders installed on new large aircraft to 20 hours from the present two hours.

EASA executive director Patrick Ky said the tragic flight of Malaysia Airlines MH370 demonstrates that safety can never be taken for granted.

"The proposed changes are expected to increase safety by facilitating the recovery of information by safety investigation authorities," Ky said.

These new requirements, which are included in an EASA Opinion, will apply to the operation of aircraft and helicopters registered in an EASA member state after being adopted by the European Commission.

Defence Technology