The fundamental airborne flight recorder regulatory framework developed in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s addressed voice based communications to and from aircraft, consistent with the technology of the time. The Communications, Navigation, Surveillance (CNS) and Air Traffic Management (ATM) concepts, endorsed by ICAO, rely extensively on new technology which replaces many of these communications with digital messages. CNS/ATM operations have already become and will continue to be more dependent upon these digital communications. The accident investigation community believes that the fundamental recording requirements have not substantially changed, but that the regulatory framework needs to be revisited in light of new technology and concepts introduced with CNS/ATM. In particular, the replacement of traditional voice messages with digital messaging technology creates a need to consider new systems to ensure that the information necessary for incident and accident investigation continues to be recorded on-board the aircraft.