# § 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 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 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” means an aircraft 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.
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**Source Credit**: (Added Pub. L. 118–63, title III, § 352(a), May 16, 2024, 138 Stat. 1112.)
## Editorial Notes
### References in Text
The date of enactment of this section, referred to in subsec. (a), is the date of enactment of , which was approved .