Aviation Safety Council （ASC） carries out routine flight recorder installation survey on national-registered civil and public aircraft. Every year official document of flight recorder installation survey forms are sent to operators and government agencies. The goal of this survey is to find out the aircraft installation of cockpit voice recorder （CVR）, flight data recorder （FDR）, flight data acquisition unit （FDAU）, quick access recorder （QAR）, and lightweight flight recorder （LWR） at various national-registered operators. The findings would be the reference for the establishment of investigation laboratory’s flight recorder readout capability, so as to enhance the readout efficiency during the occurrence investigations.

The international specifications for flight recorders are derived from relevant Standards and Recommended Practices under Chapter 6 of the International Civil Aviation Organization （ICAO） Annex 6, and were referred by the Taiwan Civil Aviation Regulations 07-02A to require civil aviation operators in Taiwan should install flight recorders on board the aircraft.

ICAO regulations on installation of flight recorders depend on aircraft category （fixed-wing or helicopter）, operation type （commercial air transport or general aviation）, date the type certificate was issued, maximum take-off weight （MTOW）, and propulsion type to distinguish the needs to install flight recorders and the specifications. However, the aircraft may be exempted from requirements if the MTOW of the aircraft does not reach the weight threshold, the manufacturer does not provide any technical service for modification, or the operators can not obtain STCs issued by Taiwan CAA, FAA, EASA or civil aviation authority from the original design country for technical modifications.

Public and military aircrafts which are not governed by civil aviation regulations do not have relevant legal sources for the installation of flight recorders. However, the newly acquired public helicopters （UH-60M） and second-generation fighters （F-16/M-2000/IDF） are equipped with military flight recorders.