---
kind: "section"
citation: "49 U.S.C. § 44746"
title: "49"
title_heading: "Transportation"
number: "44746"
heading: "Flight data recovery from overwater operations"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/49/44746"
units:
  - "Subtitle VII — Aviation Programs"
  - "Part A — Air Commerce and Safety"
  - "Subpart iii — safety"
  - "Chapter 447 — Safety Regulation"
---

# §44746. Flight data recovery from overwater operations

- (a) **In General.—** Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this section, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration shall complete a rulemaking proceeding to require that, not later than 5 years after the date of enactment of this section, all applicable [aircraft](/usc/49/40102.md?p=a-6) are—
  - (1) fitted with a means, in the event of an accident, to recover mandatory flight data parameters in a manner that does not require the underwater retrieval of the cockpit voice recorder or flight data recorder;
  - (2) equipped with a tamper-resistant method to broadcast sufficient information to a ground station to establish the location where an applicable [aircraft](/usc/49/40102.md?p=a-6) terminates flight as the result of such an event; and
  - (3) equipped with an airframe low-frequency underwater locating device that functions for at least 90 days and that can be detected by appropriate equipment.
- (b) **Applicable Aircraft Defined.—** In this section, the term “applicable [aircraft](/usc/49/40102.md?p=a-6)” means an [aircraft](/usc/49/40102.md?p=a-6) manufactured on or after January 1, 2028, that is—
  - (1) operated under part 121 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations;
  - (2) required by regulation to have a cockpit voice recorder and a flight data recorder; and
  - (3) used in extended overwater operations.

## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 118–63, title III, § 352(a), May 16, 2024, 138 Stat. 1112.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### References in Text

The date of enactment of this section, referred to in subsec. (a), is the date of enactment of Pub. L. 118–63, which was approved May 16, 2024.