Airbus has announced that about 6000 of its aircraft need an immediate modification. Apparently, intense radiation from the sun could corrupt data crucial to flight controls.
Airbus said for most planes it's a simple software upgrade.
Airlines around the world have stated this may lead to flight disruptions and cancellations.
I will feel a lot better about this if/when some smart person can explain how a software update blocks solar radiation from messing up the computer.
..some smart person can explain how a software update blocks solar
radiation from messing up the computer.
It's a bit like explaining how systems have methods for detecting unexpected data errors in other systems. The very beginning might be here:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/cyclic-redundancy-check
and here:
I've come across from the other thread, Mark's
which also has good information
since both of you just pipped me to the post.
Easyjet announced this morning UK time that they had run the update on all their affected planes by late yesterday and expected a normal timetable today and going forward...
let's hope it is as easy for other airlines - and that it works too. There has been a huge amount of solar activity this year. We had the Northern Lights very early this autumn, all over the UK, and they were spectacular
Wow- concerning to say the least
I just saw this update: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gp9d28p74o
:Flights returning to normal after Airbus warning grounded planes
40 minutes ago“
99% of the time the concern is over a one in 100,000 event ... which is why air travel is so safe. G-d bless them for the detail.
"99% of the time the concern is over a one in 100,000 event"
Not for this. Intense Solar Storm => can flip random bits for 1 to zero or vice versa.
This happens normally on flights flying at the altitude they are. So there are basic error correction codes in there already like Jolui said. A storm like this is a lot more than "normal", so they can add more checks. A common strategy is having three independent programs and if an error occurs in one the other two outvote it and lock it out. There are other techniques.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-event_upset
[snip]
On October 7, 2008, Qantas Flight 72 at 37,000 feet, one of the plane's three air data inertial reference units had a failure, causing incorrect data to be sent to the plane's flight control systems. This caused pitch-downs and caused severe injuries to crew and passengers. All potential causes were found to be "unlikely," or "very unlikely," except for an SEU, whose likelihood couldn't be estimated.[6]
American Airlines said it completed the update on all its affected aircraft by Noon Central Time (US.)
It looks like any disruptions were minimal.
Not a big deal by itself. Problem encountered>manufacturer took proactive steps>users implemented the fix. It would have been a big deal if Airbus had acted like the other player in the business that has the MCAS system.
Thank you Frank. The A320 has been flying for nearly 40 years. Speaks pretty well of Airbus if there is one incident in those 40 years and somehow they manage to determine as obscure a cause as solar radiation at high altitudes (maybe they measure it?), develop a fix and get it out to the airlines so quickly. Its why flying is so safe and reliable. I was curious, so I looked. Pretty amazing how safe. https://turbli.com/blog/the-safest-transport-modes-ranked-by-statistics-from-10-years-of-data/
