The two flight recorders are required by international regulation , overseen by the International Civil Aviation Organization , to be capable of surviving the conditions likely to be encountered in a severe aircraft accident . For this reason , they are typically specified to withstand an impact of 3400 '' g '' and temperatures of over , as required by EUROCAE ED-112 . They have been a mandatory requirement in commercial aircraft in the United States since 1967 . After the unexplained disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in 2014 , commentators have called for live streaming of data to the ground , as well as extending the battery life of the underwater locator beacons . One of the earliest and proven attempts was made by François Hussenot and Paul Beaudouin in 1939 at the Marignane flight test center , France , with their " type HB " flight recorder ; they were essentially photograph-based flight recorders , because the record was made on a scrolling photographic film long by wide . The latent image was made by a thin ray of light deviated by a mirror tilted according to the magnitude of the data to be recorded ( altitude , speed , etc. ) . A pre-production run of 25 " HB " recorders was ordered in 1941 and HB recorders remained in use in French flight test centers well into the 1970s
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
Flight recorder