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Down Under
Cosmic Rays May Have Caused Jet's Plunge
2009-11-18
Then again, it was an Airbus 330 so it may just have had a mind of its own ...
It's an airplane. Cosmic rays abound in the places it travels. If it can't handle that, it should stay on the ground where the air is thicker... and it hasn't so far to fall, in extremis.
Posted by:Grunter

#11  I just gotta wonder - What did LOVE + PENN STATE do to LISA!?

A more relevent question:

What will Penn State do to Michigan State?
Posted by: badanov   2009-11-18 22:11  

#10  I just gotta wonder - What did LOVE + PENN STATE do to LISA!?
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2009-11-18 22:04  

#9  You should read Captn. Nowak's entry in Wiki. She seemed to be as messed up as the AB 330's brain. Pretty sad for both.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2009-11-18 21:51  

#8  GolfBravoUSMC ,

I like bad girls, SWOON!

I agree with Ed that the programmer is at fault. The auto pilot did a dangerous manoeuvre. The autopilot obviously didn't have a "temporal memory" and the sudden change in input caused a massive output "signal". Very Very wrong.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2009-11-18 17:20  

#7  Crooked eyes, Wrinkles....lustful pilot itch, etc.
Posted by: Besoeker   2009-11-18 16:29  

#6  Without the neutrino's steady thrum
How could we have continuum?
Going through the earth they're slowed, you see
And that's why we have gravity!
Posted by: Deacon Blues   2009-11-18 16:00  

#5  Cosmic Rays caused Astronaut Capt. Lisa Marie Nowak looks to plunge and short circuited her brain?

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC   2009-11-18 14:53  

#4  Assuming aerospace grade parts (they are) and triple or quad redundancy (it is), then it sounds like poor high reliability programming practices to cause uncontrolled maneuvers when encounter single event upsets.
Posted by: ed   2009-11-18 14:44  

#3  "The data device experienced significant spikes in nine different categories of information, leading to the dramatic movements in the aircraft, which was using its autopilot system."

Makes one wonder whether there is a "choke point" in the device for flow of those nine data categories. If so the device should be redesigned and/or hardened. This is probably more than just a software problem.
Posted by: tipover   2009-11-18 14:34  

#2  My money is on a software djinn. What's that cute technical term the NTSB uses - "uncommanded excursion of control surfaces"?
Posted by: SteveS   2009-11-18 13:44  

#1  WoT related? Return of the NASA stories?
Posted by: gromky   2009-11-18 13:40  

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