The extended comment period on the FAA's proposed rules on cockpit voice (CVR) and flight data recorders (FDR) ends today. The original comment period was extended two months because by April 28 only 25 comments had been submitted. A check of the docket this morning shows that nearly 50 comments have been received to date. The new rules would lengthen the duration of recordings; increase the recording rate of certain FDR parameters; require physical separation of the FDR and CVR; improve the reliability of the power supply to the devices; and require that received datalink communications be recorded, if an aircraft is so equipped. The FAA said the rules are "intended to improve the quality and quantity of information recorded" by CVRs and FDRs to "increase the ability of retaining important facts during accident and incident investigations." The proposal is based on NTSB recommendations following several airline and corporate jet accidents in which information from recorders was either incomplete, nonexistent or garbled.