PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Judge rules crash black box should be handed over to police
Old 25th Jun 2015, 07:35
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Swiss Cheese
 
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Good comments by Flying Lawyer

This is not the first time that a Court in the UK has ordered disclosure of CVR/DFDR data. There have been a handful of civil cases in the High Court over the past 20 years, when the same has happened, but importantly not for the purposes of potential criminal prosecution.

The AAIB have a longstanding protocol of publishing what they consider relevant to flight safety from the CVR/DFDR data. Rarely there is a disagreement over the nature and extent of that relevance, which if not resolved, can lead to an application to the High Court.

There is always tension between criminal prosecutors and safety investigations, given their different drivers, which has been proved to harm air safety and the prevention of further similar accidents. This is especially so in certain EU countries, as well as certain States in the Far East and South America. Hence recent EU regulations attempting to manage the accident data between the Prosecutors and Safety Investigators. (For US readers, think back to Valujet 592 and TWA 800 and the problems caused by the conflicting jurisdictions of the FBI and NTSB.)

However, Germanwings did not quite work out according to those new EU regulations...

Regardless, IMHO this Scottish decision will not lead to a rush of other Court applications in other accidents in the UK.
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