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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=6&u=/ap/20040727/ap_on_go_ot/cockpit_videos_6
Pilots Oppose Call for In-Cockpit Cameras
WASHINGTON - Airline pilots are dead set against putting cameras in cockpits as safety officials step up the pressure to require them as an aid to accident investigation and prevention.
NTSB Renews Call for Cameras in Cockpit
The National Transportation Safety Board (news - web sites) launched a two-day hearing Tuesday to renew its call for all civilian planes to be equipped with crash-resistant cockpit image recorders.
Four years ago, the NTSB (news - web sites) recommended that the FAA (news - web sites) require large aircraft to be equipped with cameras four years ago, but the FAA still hasn't done it. Subsequently, NTSB added small planes to their recommendation.
NTSB senior air safety investigator Frank Hilldrup said cockpit image recorders would produce faster and more accurate conclusions about the causes of aviation accidents.
Nonetheless, the idea of cameras in the cockpits drew strong opposition from airline pilots.
John David of the Allied Pilots Association, which represents pilots at American Airlines, said having a camera monitor everything they do would affect their ability to perform.
"It's going to be very intrusive," David said. "You always see the glass lens."
The Air Line Pilots Association (news - web sites), the largest pilots union, issued a statement saying "the benefits of video imaging are vastly overrated, because far more effective and efficient tools exist."
Advocates of the devices said there are ways to protect pilots' privacy — encrypting the information, for example, or pointing the cameras away from the pilots' heads and shoulders.
But one reason pilots oppose image recorders is that such promises were broken after they agreed to the introduction of cockpit voice recorders in the 1960s, the Air Line Pilots Association said in a statement submitted to the board.
Pilots had been told the tapes would be used for accident investigations only and wouldn't be publicly disclosed. But in 1989, a 6 o'clock news program played the cockpit voice recorder from Delta Flight 1141, which crashed on takeoff in Dallas. The crew and passengers survived.
Though laws were subsequently passed that limited the use of cockpit voice recordings, they are still used against pilots in criminal proceedings and disciplinary actions by employers, the statement said.
Airlines are skeptical of the cameras. They want a cost-benefit analysis done first before they have to pay for the devices.
Pilots Oppose Call for In-Cockpit Cameras
WASHINGTON - Airline pilots are dead set against putting cameras in cockpits as safety officials step up the pressure to require them as an aid to accident investigation and prevention.
NTSB Renews Call for Cameras in Cockpit
The National Transportation Safety Board (news - web sites) launched a two-day hearing Tuesday to renew its call for all civilian planes to be equipped with crash-resistant cockpit image recorders.
Four years ago, the NTSB (news - web sites) recommended that the FAA (news - web sites) require large aircraft to be equipped with cameras four years ago, but the FAA still hasn't done it. Subsequently, NTSB added small planes to their recommendation.
NTSB senior air safety investigator Frank Hilldrup said cockpit image recorders would produce faster and more accurate conclusions about the causes of aviation accidents.
Nonetheless, the idea of cameras in the cockpits drew strong opposition from airline pilots.
John David of the Allied Pilots Association, which represents pilots at American Airlines, said having a camera monitor everything they do would affect their ability to perform.
"It's going to be very intrusive," David said. "You always see the glass lens."
The Air Line Pilots Association (news - web sites), the largest pilots union, issued a statement saying "the benefits of video imaging are vastly overrated, because far more effective and efficient tools exist."
Advocates of the devices said there are ways to protect pilots' privacy — encrypting the information, for example, or pointing the cameras away from the pilots' heads and shoulders.
But one reason pilots oppose image recorders is that such promises were broken after they agreed to the introduction of cockpit voice recorders in the 1960s, the Air Line Pilots Association said in a statement submitted to the board.
Pilots had been told the tapes would be used for accident investigations only and wouldn't be publicly disclosed. But in 1989, a 6 o'clock news program played the cockpit voice recorder from Delta Flight 1141, which crashed on takeoff in Dallas. The crew and passengers survived.
Though laws were subsequently passed that limited the use of cockpit voice recordings, they are still used against pilots in criminal proceedings and disciplinary actions by employers, the statement said.
Airlines are skeptical of the cameras. They want a cost-benefit analysis done first before they have to pay for the devices.
