scope:

Purpose: This document is intended to provide design guidance for the development and installation of Flight Data Recorders (FDR) which may utilize solid state memory and which may employ some means of data compression. The document does not cover the overall flight recorder system requirements but does take into consideration currently defined systems (ARINC Characteristics 542A, 573 and 717) plus anticipated enhancements. Attachment 1 shows a general system block diagram and the interfaces to the flight recorder. The Flight Data Recorder will be utilized with a Flight Data Acquisition Unit (FDAU) (ARINC Characteristic 573) or a Digital Flight Data Acquisition Unit (DFDAU) (ARINC Characteristic 717) to accommodate mandatory flight data recording and other flight data acquisition needs. The document provides guidance and information to ensure customer controlled interchangeability of equipment in a standard aircraft installation and in data retrieval.

COMMENTARY: Over the years several nomenclatures have been used for flight data recorders often to differentiate the technology employed. This document uses the generic term Flight Data Recorder (FDR) to remove any reference to the technology or recording media utilized.