: Lack of black boxes in Dallas airshow crash may hinder investigation #IndiaNEWS #International The vintage aircraft in Saturdays deadly collision at a Dallas air show, as expected, lacked flight data

Lack of black boxes in Dallas airshow crash may hinder investigation #IndiaNEWS #International
The vintage aircraft in Saturdays deadly collision at a Dallas air show, as expected, lacked flight data recorders, making social media crucial to the investigation, a federal official indicated Sunday.
Neither aircraft was equipped with a flight data recorder or a cockpit data recorder, National Transportation Safety Board member Michael Graham said during a news conference Sunday.
Photos and videos of the Wings Over Dallas Airshow collision, which killed all six on board the aircraft, could be “very critical, since we dont have any flight data recorders, he said.
While flight data recorders and other data devices, including cockpit recorders, are required for commercial airliners, theyre optional for most other air operations, including commuter, charter and tour flights, as well as most vintage aircraft, where digital devices would often have to be adapted for mechanical flight control systems.

The design of the Boeing B–17G Flying Fortress involved in Saturdays collision is nearly 90 years old. The other, a Bell P-63 Kingcobra, was a design used by Russia during World War II.
The NTSB has been calling for wider mandates on flight data technology for decades, during which time it has evolved to become more powerful and less expensive.
The NTSB believes other types of passenger-carrying commercial aircraft, such as charter planes and air tours, should be equipped with data, audio, and video recording devices, the agency said in a text updated Oct. 28.
The board noted, The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has not mandated that aircraft operators install
, citing privacy, security, cost, and other concerns.
Debris from two planes that crashed during an airshow at Dallas Executive Airport lie on the ground on Nov. 12, 2022. LM Otero / AP
Still, even under the NTSBs wish list for improved crash data, such vintage aircraft were not singled out.
The NTSB says flight data technology, including cockpit voice recorders, can help investigators reconstruct the events leading to an accident, find a cause, and help pilots and manufacturers avoid deadly mistakes.
The contemporary flight data recorder monitors at least 88 important parameters, including altitude, airspeed and aircraft attitude, data that typically allow the NTSB to build a computer animated video reconstruction of the flight, according to the agency. A cockpit voice recorder records the flight crew’s voices, as well as other sounds inside the cockpit, the NTSB website says.
Graham said it is common for the agency to investigate collisions involving aircrafts without black boxes.
Unfortunately many of the general aviation accidents that we see out there, there is no flight data recorder or CVR, and many times there is no video, so its very difficult for us to determine the probable cause, he said.