The General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) opened a Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) laboratory at its corporate headquarter in Abu Dhabi.

The laboratory is managed by the Air Accident Investigation department, headed by Executive Director Ismaeil Abdel Wahed.

“The GCAA investigates every civil aviation accident in the UAE or outside UAE if the accident was related to one of our national airlines,” said Saif Mohamed Al Suwaidi, Director General of GCAA.

“The GCAA Aircraft Accident Investigation department investigates the accident or serious incidents findings, causes and contributing factors that lead to determining the probable cause of the accident or serious incident.”

“This highly qualified laboratory will not only be an essential tool for air accident and incident investigations, but it will also reduce the cost and time and dependency on other investigation bodies, which will lead to enhance the aviation safety in the UAE,” he continued.

“The GCAA will then issue safety recommendations intended to enhance aviation safety by preventing the reoccurrence of the accident causal factors. The addition of a flight recorder lab will significantly improve the ability to fulfill this primary responsibility,” Al Suwaidi concluded.

Wahed said: “Modern aircraft are complex, the aircraft systems record significant amounts of flight data and technology advances have made flight data analysis and playback a widely accepted, necessary, and practical activity for all aviation authorities charged with investigation responsibilities.”

“The GCAA laboratory provides the capability to download readout and analyze flight data and cockpit voice recorders information for all aircraft types on the UAE civil register, using the state of the art analysis tools provided in the CAE/Flights cape flight data analysis laboratory,” he added.