In reply to the CVR question.
Most modern aircraft now have 2 hour CVRs and store the information in a solid state data module.
The procedure normally goes that when the crew feel that the CVR data is required to preserved then they have to pull the applicable CVR circuit breaker once on the ground and shut down.
Then the CVR can either be downloaded using a download tool or removed and sent for download at a workshop. Generally its the latter as downloading a large audio file takes a little while.
This download or CVR replacement will be performed by the ground engineers.
When the data has been preserved either by download or CVR replacement then the CB would be reset by engineering.
Finally this should all be recorded in the aircraft technical log book and then its normally up to the airlines safety department to use the recordings accordingly as part of the investigation into the reported event.
Last edited by jimpy1979uk; 12th Aug 2013 at 19:43.