Flight Data Recording Questions and Answers

Answer: A

Correct answer: Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A

Both are true and the second is the reason for the first. The programme exists to find systemic trends - an approach that is regularly unstable at one airport, a procedure that invites a particular error - and those are properties of the system rather than of individuals.

De-identification also protects the data itself: a programme perceived as punitive changes crew behaviour towards avoiding the recording rather than the hazard, and stops measuring anything real.

Answer: B

Correct answer: 1 and 2 only

The first two are correct: the data recorder stores aircraft parameters, and the voice recorder stores speech, radio calls and the ambient sound of the flight deck.

The third is false and is the standing distinction in this topic. A quick access recorder sits in an ordinary enclosure precisely so that it can be downloaded easily after every flight - armouring it would defeat its purpose, and it is not part of the mandatory requirement.

Answer: C

Correct answer: 1 and 2 only

The first two are correct: the beacon emits an acoustic pulse at 37.5 kHz and is activated by immersion in water, a simple contact switch with no logic to fail.

The third confuses it with an emergency locator transmitter. 406 MHz is a radio frequency for satellite detection, and radio does not propagate through sea water at all - which is the very reason the underwater beacon is acoustic rather than radio.

Answer: D

Correct answer: 1 and 2 only

The first two are correct: rates are matched to how quickly each parameter can change, and one appearance per one-second subframe is one sample per second.

The third contradicts the first. Rates vary widely, from 8 Hz for vertical acceleration down to 0.25 Hz for fuel quantity, precisely because frame capacity is finite and must be spent where information exists. Equal sampling would waste bandwidth on slow parameters and starve the fast ones.

Answer: A

Correct answer: 1 and 2 only

The first two describe the readout procedure correctly: the module's physical condition is assessed before any power is applied, and a module from sea water is cleaned and dried first.

The third is the reason validation is needed rather than a fact. A wrong conversion factor usually gives a plausible trace - a gain error scales it, an offset shifts it - which is exactly why the readout must be anchored to independently known events.

Answer: B

Correct answer: A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4

Each device answers a different need. The data recorder holds aircraft parameters over a long period and the voice recorder holds speech, radio calls and ambient sound - together they give what the aircraft did and what the crew said and heard.

The underwater locator beacon guides the search with an acoustic pulse. The quick access recorder holds a removable medium for routine safety monitoring, and it is the only one of the four not concerned with accident investigation at all.

Answer: C

Correct answer: A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4

Each test represents one stage of what happens to a recorder in an accident, and the order of the list is the order of events. Impact shock stands for the deceleration of the crash itself.

Static crush stands for wreckage settling on the unit afterwards, the fire test for the post-crash fuel fire, and the immersion test for prolonged submersion at depth. The same module must pass them in sequence, since each begins with the damage the last left behind.

Answer: D

Correct answer: A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4

The rates descend with the speed at which each parameter can meaningfully change. Vertical acceleration is fastest at 8 Hz, carrying turbulence and hard landings.

Control column position follows at 4 Hz, pressure altitude at 1 Hz, and fuel quantity at 0.25 Hz - once every four-second frame, which is ample for a quantity that changes over minutes. Sorting the parameters by how fast they move and the rates by magnitude pairs them without any recall of particular figures.

Answer: A

Correct answer: A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4

The four terms cover the format, the hardware and the behaviour. A data frame is the repeating structure giving each parameter a fixed slot, which is why a readout needs the layout document for that installation.

The flight data acquisition unit collects and formats the parameters; loop recording is the overwriting of material older than the retention period; and a deployable recorder separates from the airframe on impact and floats, so that it need not be recovered from the sea bed at all.

Answer: B

Correct answer: The quick access recorder

The quick access recorder sits in an ordinary avionics enclosure, which is what makes it quick to access. It exists for routine monitoring, where the data is downloaded after every flight.

The other three are all crash protected: the data and voice recorders in a hardened module that must survive impact, crush, fire and immersion in sequence, and the deployable recorder in the same kind of module, differing only in that it separates from the airframe and floats rather than staying with the wreckage.