If an incident has occurred within the last thirty minutes before landing or parking, what action must the flight crew take regarding the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) after landing or parking?

If an incident has occurred within the last thirty minutes before landing or parking, what action must the flight crew take regarding the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) after landing or parking?

• A. Notify NTSB immediately after landing.
• B. Deactivate the CVR by turning it off at the main switch.
• C. Remove power from the CVR by pulling the circuit breaker after landing or after parking.
• D. Leave the CVR running until the post-landing inspection.

Answer: (C)

Preserving the CVR data after an incident that occurred within the last 30 minutes of flight is the priority. Once the aircraft has landed or parked, removing power from the cockpit voice recorder by pulling its circuit breaker stops further recording and protects the section of the recording that contains the incident. This helps ensure the audio and timing relevant to the investigation aren’t overwritten by subsequent recordings. Simply turning off the CVR at the main switch may not fully guarantee isolation or preservation in the post-incident state, and leaving the CVR running could allow new audio to overwrite the incident data. Notifying authorities is important for the investigation, but the action specifically addressing CVR data preservation is to cut power by pulling the circuit breaker.

Preserving the CVR data after an incident that occurred within the last 30 minutes of flight is the priority. Once the aircraft has landed or parked, removing power from the cockpit voice recorder by pulling its circuit breaker stops further recording and protects the section of the recording that contains the incident. This helps ensure the audio and timing relevant to the investigation aren’t overwritten by subsequent recordings.

Simply turning off the CVR at the main switch may not fully guarantee isolation or preservation in the post-incident state, and leaving the CVR running could allow new audio to overwrite the incident data. Notifying authorities is important for the investigation, but the action specifically addressing CVR data preservation is to cut power by pulling the circuit breaker.