[lug] can't make this stuff up, folks...

[Bear Giles]

Military equipment tends to have far fewer limits on 'stupid things' it can
do.  You never know when it might be crucial in a combat situation.  It's
hard to think of how this would apply in this case though. :-)

A few years ago comp.risks mentioned a jet running off the end of a runway
because it was covered in wet leaves or something.  Whatever it was didn't
have enough friction to spin up the landing gear, and said landing gear had
to weight-bearing and spinning at some speed (50 mph?) before the thrust
reversers could engage.  This makes perfect sense - you don't want to engage
the thrust reversers at 30,000 ft, or even when you're just a few hundred
feet above the runway.  But in this case it meant the pilot couldn't brake
(slippery runway) and couldn't engage the thrust reversers.  Oops.


On Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 2:11 PM, Zan Lynx <zlynx at acm.org> wrote:

> On 10/20/09 1:59 PM, Kenneth D Weinert wrote:
>
> > One of the first things the Air Force test pilots tried on an early F-16
> > was to tell the computer to raise the landing gear while standing still
> > on the runway. Guess what happened? Scratch one F-16. (my friend says
> > there is a new subroutine in the code called 'wait_on_wheels' now...)
>
> I can see this bug two ways. Sure, the computer is able to keep the
> wheels down. But why should it have to?
>
> In a smaller plane pulling the manual/hydraulic gear lever is going to
> raise the landing gear too. You could also lower the wing flaps and rip
> the wings apart.
>
> These are just things the pilot isn't supposed to do!
>
> This is almost Windows vs. Unix. Unix lets you shoot yourself in the
> foot or script a machinegun to do so automatically thousands of times
> per second. Windows will gray out the "shoot" button while it points at
> your foot or ask "Are you sure? Are you really sure? You need
> Administrator privileges for this option. Do you wish to allow this
> action?"
>
> --
> Zan Lynx
> zlynx at acm.org
>
> "Knowledge is Power.  Power Corrupts.  Study Hard.  Be Evil."
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