Terms and Conditions of Service
These terms and conditions outline the rules and regulations for the use of Flight Data Engineering Solutions’ Services, hereinafter referred to as “FDES”.
Flight Data Engineering Solutions (FDES), operating through its Recorders Readout Services business under company’s registration CNPJ 36.825.377/0001-27, is located at:
Avenida Getúlio Vargas, 908/406 - Menino Deus, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul - 90150-002, Brasil.
By agreeing this service request we assume Customer accept these terms and conditions in full.
Do not continue to use FDES’s Services if Customer does not accept all of the terms and conditions stated on this document.
All terms refer to the offer, acceptance and consideration of payment necessary to undertake the process of our assistance to the Customer in the most appropriate manner, whether by formal emails, or any other means, for the express purpose of meeting the Customer’s needs in respect of provision of the FDES’s stated services/products, in accordance with and subject to, prevailing law of Brazil. Any use of the terminology set forth in Article 2 or other words in the singular or plural, are taken as interchangeable and therefore as referring to same.
Article 1. Background.
FDES will support Customer for all services highlighted in “Services” Webpage of FDES’s Website, as well as for all Recorder units, and their Recorder manufacturer’s native file formats, which are listed on “Capabilities” Webpage of FDES’s Website.
Article 2. Definitions.
The following terminology applies to these Terms and Conditions and any or all Agreements:
2.1 “Acceptable Format” means that the Raw Binary Data format and the physical media it is transmitted on, if any, can be read by existing FDES resources.
2.2 “Aircraft” means a fixed or rotary-wing aircraft.
2.3 “Recorder” means a voice or flight data recorder (CVR or FDR), or a unit that records both voice and flight data parts in a single recording unit (CVFDR or Combined), that uses a digital method of recording.
2.4 “Event” means a circumstance that could lead to or contribute to an unplanned or undesired condition.
2.5 “Data Frame” controls the conversion between Raw Binary Data and Engineering Unit Data.
2.6 “Data Transcription” or “Transcription” is a list of FDR data that has been converted to Engineering Unit Data for selected Parameters without any analysis.
2.7 “Discrepancy” or “Discrepant” means a Parameter in the FDR data that does not agree with the host Aircraft model general characteristics, and may indicate that maintenance actions are needed to restore the recording system to correct operation.
2.8 “Engineering Unit Data” are data that have been converted from the FDR binary representation into physical units, such as airspeed in knots or altitude in feet.
2.9 “Parameter” means an Aircraft variable such as airspeed or landing gear position that is either recorded by the FDR, or can be computed from other FDR data.
2.10 “Raw Binary Data” means flight data downloaded from Customer’s FDR that is in the Recorder manufacturer’s native format. Data in this format has not been conditioned or converted into Engineering Unit Data. Specialized software is required to convert Raw Binary Data into a decoded format useful for engineering analysis.
2.11 “Reasonability” means the FDR data are consistent with the host Aircraft model’s general characteristics.
2.12 “Reasonability Report” is a report that shows the comparison of each Parameter value, in the FDR data, against the Criteria as defined in Article 3.2. Discrepancies will be flagged for further Customer attention.
Article 3. Statement of Work.
3.1 FDES will provide the following Services and Materials in support of Customer’s Recorder data review set forth in Article 1 above.
3.1.1 FDR Readout. For Customer’s FDR Readout requests, FDES will: process Raw Binary Data into Engineering Unit Data; and provide Customer with a Reasonability Report in a mutually agreed format.
3.1.2 CVR Readout. For Customer’s CVR Readout requests, FDES will: perform the CVR data retrieval, decompression and conversion to Wave file of all audio data available from CVR’s channels, and provide Customer with a CVR Quality Rating Report in a mutually agreed format.
3.1.3 In-house or On-site Download. For Customer’s Download requests of FDR, or CVR, or Combined unit, FDES will: perform the data retrieval from Customer’s Recorder in a mutually agreed condition; and process retrieved data in accordance with Customer’s request. No recorded data will be erased or destroyed during data retrieval process. In the case of Customer’s In-House Download request, the Recorder will be returned to Customer without a serviceable parts tag (“as is” condition).
3.1.4 Three-dimensional Flight Data Animation. For Customer’s Flight Data Animation additional service requests, FDES will: process FDR’s raw binary data into Engineering Unit data, and synchronize it with CVR’s audio channels data in case of Customer’s request for timing synchronization and correlation of the FDR and CVR data; and provide Customer with a three-dimensional flight data animation video in a mutually agreed format, in conjunction with Engineering Data in graphical and tabular formats, relating to the video’s timing period.
3.1.5 Follow-up by the Requester and/or Aeronautical Authority. For Customer’s Follow-up additional service requests, FDES will: provide Customer and/or Aeronautical Authority a follow-up of the undergoing services at FDES.
3.2 For Customer’s FDR Readout requests, FDES will define Reasonability criteria (Criteria) to determine if the values of each Parameter in the Raw Binary Data are acceptable or Discrepant based on the regulatory requirements. The Criteria are based solely on FDES’s engineering judgment and design standards, and will not be submitted to any regulatory agency for approval or certification.
3.3 The Services are limited to those described in Article 3.1 and will not include any of the following:
3.3.1 Physical work on the Aircraft, including testing and maintenance actions;
3.3.2 Physical work on the Recorder, including testing, maintenance actions and Aeronautical Authority certification;
3.3.3 Representation as to the future suitability of the recording system for revenue service; or
3.3.4 Formal certification that the Aircraft maintenance plan item has been completed.
3.4 All Customer requested Parameters will be used for Data Transcription and Reasonability Reports subject to FDES approval.
3.4.1 Prior to making the initial order for services for a given Aircraft system configuration, Customer and FDES will define requirements for transcription format and/or report structure as set forth in Article 3.1. In support of defining these requirements, Customer will provide FDES with recording system configuration information for each Aircraft. To support reasonability report structure definition as set forth in Article 3.1.1 and 3.1.3 through 3.1.5, Customer will provide FDES with a list of Parameters that meet Customer’s regulatory requirements.
3.5 FDES will not release data and Criteria used to substantiate any Data Transcription or Reasonability Report.
3.6 FDES’s analysis is based on Customer furnished data and is intended to determine if there are obvious problems with the operation of the Aircraft’s voice and/or flight data recording system. FDES’s analysis is not a validation of the accuracy of the Recorder’s performance, or a formal approval or certification of the Recorder’s operation, nor an assurance that the Recorder will function as Customer desires. Consequently, Customer will substantiate the certification of each Recorder through its regulatory agency.
3.7 All Materials provided hereunder are Proprietary Materials.
Article 4. Limitation of Liability.
4.1 In no event will FDES be responsible or liable for any consequential, indirect, special, or other damages arising out of this agreement or in connection with the delivery, use, or performance of the services even if FDES had been advised, knows, or should have known of the possibility thereof including, but not limited to, lost profits, lost business revenues, failure to realize expected savings, other commercial or economic loss of any kind, or for any claim against Customer by any party.
4.2 Customer is aware that the Recorder unit must be in a known good condition (operational or functional) prior to shipping the Recorder for service at FDES.
4.3 Customer is aware that the Recorder unit must have its rear connector protected with a suitable and approved static dissipative cap (ESD approved caplug), prior to shipping the Recorder for service at FDES.
4.4 Customer is aware that the recorded data in the Recorder are unequivocally from the Customer stated aircraft flight data recording system configuration.
4.5 Customer acknowledges and agrees that the Recorder unit will not be tested by FDES as set forth in Article 3.3. As such, Customer paperwork must state that the Recorder is sent for download and/or readout purposes only and that it should not be repaired. It should be made clear that the Recorder is to be returned after readout without repair. The Recorder will be returned to Customer without a serviceable parts tag.
4.6 FDES will have no responsibility for any regulatory agency certification requirements for the Aircraft’s voice and/or flight data recording system. The provisions of the Services or written materials will not be interpreted as implying that any regulatory agency certification can be acquired or maintained for the Aircraft voice and/or flight data recording system, nor will FDES have any liability or obligation to Customer in the event that Customer is unable to obtain or maintain any such certification.
4.7 Any claim by Customer for loss or damages as a result of an alleged service failure to perform by FDES must be by written notice to FDES specifying the details and providing reasonable evidence of such failure.
Article 5. Ordering.
5.1 Customer will request each service provided from FDES, as set forth in Article 3.1, via the FDES Service Request Form Webpage available at www.FDESAero.com/service_request/ Webpage.
5.1.1 In the case where Customer has an arrangement with a third-party maintenance service provider (MRO) to download Customer’s Recorder data, Customer may elect to authorize the MRO to make the service request from FDES on Customer’s behalf.
5.1.2 MRO will make the request as set forth in Article 5.1 above.
5.2 FDES will acknowledge receipt of each Customer request by a notice sent to Customer’s address pursuant to Article 7.
5.3 For each request made, Customer will:
5.3.1 Provide all information required on the FDES Service Request Form.
5.3.2 Deliver the Raw Binary Data in an Acceptable Format to FDES via upload button available on FDES Service Request Form, for the cases where the Customer does have the capability to download the Recorder locally.
Article 6. Period of Performance.
6.1 After acceptance of this offer, FDES will complete the Services for each Customer request within seven (7) business days from receipt of such request and receipt of any Customer-supplied data set forth above (in a complete and accurate form), whichever occurs last. If FDES does not have the applicable Data Frame, FDES will require a reasonable number of additional days to build and check out the Data Frame.
6.2 FDES will provide the Materials to Customer upon completion of the services.
Article 7. Delivery.
FDES will transmit, via a secure file transfer system (SFTP), Data Transcriptions and Quality Rating Reports, or Reasonability Reports, and request acknowledgements to Customer’s primary contact and any additional contacts as specified by Customer, unless agreed to otherwise.
Article 8. Price.
Prices vary depending upon the service.
8.1 FDR Readout:
8.1.1 For aircraft manufactured no later than August 18, 2000:
8.1.1.1 Check of mandatory parameters (US$1,200.00).
8.1.1.2 Check of all parameters available in the aircraft configuration (US$1,300.00).
8.1.1.3 Due to an event/incident (US$1,800.00).
8.1.2 For aircraft manufactured after August 18, 2000:
8.1.2.1 Check of mandatory parameters (US$1,500.00).
8.1.2.2 Check of all parameters available in the aircraft configuration (US$1,600.00).
8.1.2.3 Due to an event/incident (US$1,800.00).
For the purpose of the Article 8.1, “manufactured” means the point in time at which the aircraft inspection acceptance records reflect that the aircraft is complete and meets the approved type design data from applicable Certification Authorities.
8.2 CVR Readout:
8.2.1 Audio quality assessment of all required input channels and recording duration (US$900.00).
8.2.2 Due to an event/incident (US$1,800.00).
8.3 In-house Download:
8.3.1 FDR recorded data retrieval (US$450.00).
8.3.2 CVR recorded data retrieval (US$450.00).
8.3.3 CVFDR recorded data retrieval (US$450.00 for flight data, plus US$450.00 for audio data).
8.4 On-site Download:
8.4.1 FDR recorded data retrieval (US$450.00 plus all travel costs incurred in implementing service).
8.4.2 CVR recorded data retrieval (US$450.00 plus all travel costs incurred in implementing service).
8.4.3 CVFDR recorded data retrieval (US$450.00 for flight data, plus US$450.00 for audio data, plus all travel costs incurred in implementing service).
8.5 Three-dimensional Flight Data Animation:
8.5.1 Cockpit functionality and external views (US$2,000.00, subject to negotiation).
8.5.2 Timing synchronization and correlation of the FDR and CVR data (US$3,000.00, subject to negotiation).
8.6 Follow-up by the requester and/or aeronautical authority (US$3,000.00 minimum, subject to negotiation).
Article 9. Payment.
Each request, FDES will submit one (1) invoice to Customer for the charges associated with all Services set forth in Article 3. Once FDES receive the invoice payment confirmation, FDES will deliver to Customer the requested Services, as set forth in Articles 6 and 7.
Article 10. Currency.
10.1 All monetary amounts herein are in United States dollars and all payments made pursuant hereto will be converted from United States dollars to the currency of the Customer’s country, when the currency conversion is required.
10.2 Currency conversions will be based on Banco Central do Brasil exchange rates, which are published each business day by 17:00 ET, on the day of issuing the invoice to Customer.
Article 11. Confidentiality.
FDES agrees that all data submitted to FDES pursuant to this Order will be and remain Customer’s sole property, and will be used for no other purpose than complying with the terms of this Order. FDES will not disclose such data, and the analysis performed thereon, to any party not involved in the analysis work for Customer, without Customer’s express written approval, unless such disclosure is required by law or in response to a subpoena. FDES will notify Customer promptly in the event of any such required disclosure, so that Customer may have the opportunity to contest such disclosure.
Article 12. Agreement.
This offer is strictly limited to its terms.
