Cockpit voice recorder data on the Alaska Airlines Boeing plane that lost a panel during a flight this past week were “completely overwritten,” said a top U.S. investigator on Jan. 8.
The devices, which record engine sounds and the pilots’ voices, are currently mandated to retain only up to two hours of audio at one time, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Jennifer Homendy said in an update.
The plane’s cockpit voice recorder on the January 5 flight was “completely overwritten,” she said.
The U.S. requires cockpit voice recorders to log two hours of data versus 25 hours in Europe for planes made after 2021. The industry has been wrestling with the length of cockpit recordings since the disappearance of a Malaysian jet in 2014.
“There is nothing on the cockpit voice recorder,” she added, saying that the plane’s maintenance team obtained the recorder at the two-hour mark when the devices started recording a new, two-hour recording cycle.
“We’re disappointed that the cockpit voice recorder was overwritten,” the NTSB chief said.
“If that communication is not recorded, that is, unfortunately, a loss for [the NTSB], and a loss for the FAA and a loss for safety because that information is key not just for our investigation, but for improving aviation safety,” Ms. Homendy said, referring to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The Boeing’s flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder were sent to the NTSB on Jan. 7, she said. That’s when they discovered that no voice data were available, she added.
Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, a Boeing 737 MAX 9 plane, was in the air for approximately 20 minutes as it was returning to Portland International Airport right after takeoff, according to data from Flightradar24.
A device known as a door plug that covered a deactivated emergency exit door on the plane was blown off and oxygen masks deployed, officials said. Ms. Homendy said that the door was found in a backyard.
Alaska Airlines pilots turned the plane around and landed it safely, with no major injuries reported.
“I’m calling on the FAA to change the rulemaking,” Ms. Homendy said, adding that she wanted aircraft retrofitted with 25-hour recorders, not just new planes.
Several pilot groups oppose longer recordings.
The move “would significantly infringe upon the privacy rights of pilots and other flight crew members, as well as drastically increase the likelihood that CVR recordings will be misused or disseminated without authorization,” the union representing pilots for Atlas Air told the FAA last month.
U.S. regulators grounded 171 of the Boeing MAX 9 planes after the Jan. 5 Portland incident.
Alaska Airlines said late on Jan. 8 that initial reports from its technicians indicated some “loose hardware” was visible on some aircraft in the relevant area when it conducted checks of its fleet. The airline was awaiting final documentation from Boeing and the FAA before formal inspections could begin.
United, the other U.S. carrier that flies this Boeing model, said its preliminary checks found bolts that needed tightening on several panels. The disclosures heightened concerns about the production process of the MAX 9 jets that have been grounded.
“Since we began preliminary inspections on Saturday, we have found instances that appear to relate to installation issues in the door plug—for example, bolts that needed additional tightening,” United said in its statement on Jan. 8.
Boeing said it was staying in close contact with MAX 9 operators and would help customers address any findings during inspections.
Once the FAA approves the final process, inspections are expected to take several days, forcing cancellation of numerous flights. One senior industry source said the timing was increasingly unpredictable and that the FAA, under a recently appointed leader, would be cautious.
The FAA said planes would remain grounded “until operators complete enhanced inspections which include both left and right cabin door exit plugs, door components, and fasteners.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
