In Canada, cockpit voice recorders (CVRs) are only mandated for a specific category of aircraft, resulting in many commercial and business aircraft not being equipped with these crucial devices. More recently, industry initiatives have led to the development of new technologies enabling carriers to install lightweight and relatively affordable flight recorders on aircraft that are not currently covered by CVR requirements. Many of these non-conventional recorders have capabilities that meet or even exceed those of conventional CVRs by relying on high-resolution audio and imagery recordings, infinite cloud storage, data links, etc. Canadian legislation bestows a statutory privilege on the contents of CVRs installed in accordance with regulations, but it remains unclear if this privilege also applies to non-conventional flight recorders. Through case studies, this article analyses the design and functionalities of existing devices on the market, revealing that some recorders are not actually CVRs within the meaning of the law and/or suffer from technical vulnerabilities that preclude their contents from being privileged. This article concludes by outlining the resulting liability risks associated with the use of non-conventional recorders and recommends that regulations be issued to approve eligible devices based on a fourprong test, which attests whether their recordings can benefit from the statutory privilege afforded to conventional CVRs.