DFDRs, FDAUs, FDIMUs, AIMS, QARs and FDA/FOQA data

[PJ2]

Piper19;

Thanks for the response. The essential issue is, the data is the same, regardless of which device it is going to. There is no "special" data targeted for the QAR - it is the same information that goes to the FDR. The key to understanding this is the notion of the dataframe and what the installed equipment and associated software is designed to capture. I needed to ask the question of other professionals because the notion of the validity of FDA data is being challenged by some, in that, while the DFDR data has legal standing and is regulated, FDA/FOQA data is not, and can be "dismissed" when "inconvenient".

Thanks for your input.

IGh;

Thanks - I know Mike - we've spoken a number of times on FDA issues. I'll check the ISASI site for his paper - it may assist.

I'm a bit surprised at the suggestion that airlines use the flight data recorder data for their everyday FDM - that means pulling the crash recorder every day (or downloading it from the FDR, which is not nearly as easy or cheap as downloading a QAR, especially if wireless technology, now quite cheap, is being used) - in fact, given the pressures of line operations, downloading from the FDR is, for all practical purposes, not possible, (it can be done, but the time and the mtc resources aren't available in most airline ops to make this a doable solution). The view I'm trying to fully understand and currently believe in, is, FDR data isn't any more "accurate" or robust than QAR data because it is from the same source. I've done extensive reviews of available literature on the net and all confirm this but I was wanting to know if anyone here had had experience with their data being challenged as inaccurate or wrong.

I know that there are extensive procedures to establish data accuracy and sensor validity - those regs are written out, but given today's recording technologies, (the FDAU is not an FDR - see above post), it would seem to me that regardless of how it is captured and presented, ("FDR" or QAR), the data has the same validity but is merely captured by different devices. A QAR can be programmed to capture far more parameters and at higher sample rates than an FDR which must go through rigourous certification processes before such changes can be executed. That doesn't mean the data is less accurate - it means that the processes governing FDRs (not FDAU though) is regulated, but FDA data from QARs isn't.

I don't mean to answer my own question here! I am very curious what others think of this notion and if they have had experience in dealing with airlines which do not accept FDA data from QARs as legitimate data upon which decisions may (or sometimes, must) be made.

Thanks,
PJ2