Can this NZ CViR/CVoR/FDR device raise the SAFETY BAR??? Plus a powerful backstory
A New Zealand Company has received a Supplemental Type Certificate for its “EYE IN THE SKY” cockpit video, audio, and flight data recorder (see next section of this post). The device’s developer, a highly qualified and respected pilot, lost her son in an accident that the Transportation Accident Commission was unable to determine the fatal crash’s primary cause. So motivated (see 3rd section of this post), she committed to design an instrument that would raise the overall aviation safety bar, examine the source of close occurrences, ANSWER INTERMITTENT ENGINEERING FAULTS, improve training, and provide answers in the event of an accident.”
In this period in which heightened instrumental capture of safety data, ALL IN AVIATION WILL SUPPORT, NO??? More data should contribute to more precise useful analytics. The “Eye in the Sky” will provide more information about possible design, maintenance or other airworthiness questions.
Indeed, this new device will figuratively provide an additional Point of View observing flight. As past ALPA President, a clarion voice of safety uber alles, pronounced:
Our industry can either choose to continue on a proven path that builds on the safety successes of our past—centered around human input and our superior capability for informed decision-making—or veer off course and allow corporate interests to place profit ahead of the public interest and safety by attempting to remove pilots from the flight deck.
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On the flight deck, pilots work together, observe each other, and communicate nonverbally, creating a smooth workflow in an emergency where they simultaneously fly the plane, attempt to resolve issues or prevent them from escalating, and create safe outcomes. Pilots are the core safety feature in aviation. Through intensive training, extensive flight experience, human senses, and uniquely human critical thinking and decision-making skills, pilots are ready to engage and create safe outcomes when something goes wrong in flight. The research identified in this white paper underscores the danger that a reduction in the number of pilots on the flight deck would measurably limit the ability to create safe outcomes.
The logic of the Captain’s statement is that 4 eyes are better than 2! How could adding a 5TH EYE which unobtrusively and objectively collects VITAL INDICA OF SAFETY be anything other than positive addition to ALPA’s goal of preventing future accidents. The New Zealand instrument provides hard data, neither subjective opinions nor less than infallible memories.
The union’s most recent position on CVRs is an adamant NO, as reported here:
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has renewed its call for commercial aircraft to have crash-protected cockpit video recorders, as part of its annual “most wanted list” of transportation safety improvements. But the world’s largest pilot union continues to oppose such a measure.
Commercial airliners are required to have flight data recorders and cockpit voice recorders. But the NTSB has long wanted to see aviation go further. It has been calling for the INSTALLATION OF “COCKPIT IMAGE RECORDERS” FOR NO LESS THAN 20 YEARS…
{ALPA’s reply:}
ALPA has long recommended that any additional resources should be focused on enhancing current safety systems to record more data of a higher quality as opposed to video images, which are subject to misinterpretation and may in fact lead investigators away from accurate conclusions.
Flight deck image recorders will not improve safety and could, in fact, impede it by diverting limited resources that could be used for more valuable safety enhancements. ALPA remains equally concerned as to how such proposed video recordings may be misused and is insistent that the aviation industry fully address how to protect recorded information.
Does the Patterson Distributors’ cockpit video, audio, and flight data recorder, Eye in the Sky, meet the unions’ specific requirements or does ALPA really want something more robust???
Eye in the Sky Cockpit Recorder Gets STC Approval
New Zealand-based Patterson Distributors developed the cockpit video, audio, and flight data recorder
By Jessica Reed • Writer & Editor
October 10, 2024
Patterson Distributors Limited’s “Eye in the Sky” cockpit video, audio, and flight data recorder has received SUPPLEMENTAL TYPE CERTIFICATE (STC) approval from the FAA. This device is designed to enhance safety and performance through comprehensive flight data recording. The STC certification was granted through the FAA’s International Validation Branch under a bilateral agreement with the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
The Eye in the Sky system integrates a forward-facing HD camera, capturing a 160-degree view of the cockpit and flight data from the instrument panel, along with ambient noise, intercom, and radio transmissions. Additionally, the unit records GNSS data, including aircraft ground speed, altitude, heading, and position. Designed to fit various helicopter models, it offers operators an affordable and robust tool for reviewing pilot performance, addressing maintenance anomalies, and improving flight training.
LOUISA PATTERSON [see below], the device’s developer, remarked, “Eye in the Sky helps raise the OVERALL AVIATION SAFETY BAR, close occurrences, ANSWER INTERMITTENT ENGINEERING FAULTS, improve training, and provide answers in the event of an accident.”
With a tamper-proof SD card storing up to 22 hours of data and a built-in backup battery, the Eye in the Sky is ready for immediate deployment.
Eye in the Sky Cockpit Video Born Out of Grief
Eye in the Sky founder Louisa Patterson sought to create a helicopter video recording system after her son died in an R44 crash.
Louisa Patterson, chief pilot, standards pilot, and CEO of Over the Top, a New Zealand-based air tour operator flying three Eurocopter helicopters, is on a mission. Although some consider her a pioneer of the air tour industry in her country, her main focus now is promoting her new business, Eye in the Sky, a maker of aircraft video, audio, and data recording devices.
Her motivation is personal. Her son was killed on February 19, 2015 in the crash of a Robinson Helicopter R44, on which he was a passenger. The 3,000-hour pilot was a former military pilot and had a reputation for being careful. The helicopter broke apart in the air while flying at 1,400 feet over level ground, and pieces of it were spread over a wide area. The New Zealand accident investigation board was UNABLE TO DETERMINE A PRIMARY CAUSE OF THE ACCIDENT.
Patterson knew a video recorder in the cockpit could have given the investigators more clues. So, in remembrance of her son, she made it her mission to design a cockpit recording device (video, voice, and data) that would be small, crash-resistant (metal), and tamper-proof and would cost less than half the price of similar devices on the market at that time. She found a manufacturer in the U.S., Rugged Video, in Mequon, Wisconsin.
So now she has a device that fits in the palm of your hand and costs $4,500. She believes that every aircraft should be flying with such a device, for both safety and business reasons. Patterson says she is not in it for the money. She funded the development of the recorder and plans to donate all profits from the sale of the device to a charity in New Zealand.
