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Missing Files Blamed For Deadly A400M Crash

Posted by timothy on from the wipe-logs dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Think you had a bad day when your software drivers go missing? Rejoice, you get to live! A fatal A400M crash was linked to data-wipe mistake during an engine software update. A military plane crash in Spain was probably caused by computer files being accidentally wiped from three of its engines, according to investigators. Plane-maker Airbus discovered anomalies in the A400M's data logs after the crash, suggesting a software fault. And it has now emerged that Spanish investigators suspect files needed to interpret its engine readings had been deleted by mistake.This would have caused the affected propellers to spin too slowly causing loss of power and eventually, a crash.

6 of 253 comments (clear)

  1. So, how did ... by PPH · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ... the engines even start. Or throttle up to take-off power?

    Come on, folks. Turn the power on to the engine controllers at the flight line and the status display should have been flashing warnings. Nobody should have even started this thing.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
    1. Re:So, how did ... by TubeSteak · · Score: 3, Interesting

      A jet engine that fails by disintegration has a high chance of slicing other airplane parts with ripped off fan blades.

      It's actually exceedingly rare for there to be an uncontained failure.

      That engine shroud is intended to handle catastrophic failures at full throttle.
      This video is a test of the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine that went into the Airbus A380. The test starts ~3:25 in.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j973645y5AA

      Then again, this is the same engine after an oil leak led to an internal engine fire
      https://www.atsb.gov.au/media/2891294/vh-oqa-fig7.jpg
      https://www.atsb.gov.au/media/4173628/ao-2010-089_vh-oqa.jpg

      The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) found that a number of oil feed stub pipes within the High Pressure / Intermediate pressure (HP/IP) hub assembly were manufactured with thin wall sections that did not conform to the design specifications. These non-conforming pipes were fitted to Trent 900 engines, including the No. 2 engine on VH-OQA. The thin wall section significantly reduced the life of the oil feed stub pipe on the No. 2 engine so that a fatigue crack developed, ultimately releasing oil during the flight that resulted in an internal oil fire. That fire led to the separation of the intermediate pressure turbine disc from the drive shaft. The disc accelerated and burst with sufficient force that the engine structure could not contain it, releasing high-energy debris.

      Most of the shroud's strength is focused around the main fan blades instead of the turbine blades that are much deeper in the engine.

      --
      [Fuck Beta]
      o0t!
  2. Re:This is what happens when you use Luddite softw by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Depressingly, that might actually be true.

    Not because of 'apps' of course; but because no self-respecting consumer OS would fail to cryptographically verify the execution environment(lest some precious 'premium content' be absconded with by pirates) and an entire missing file probably would have caused the aircraft to refuse to move until taken back to Airbus HQ for re-blessing by the vender.

    They don't succeed against motivated pirates, of course; but this is one area where consumer software vendors do actually give a fuck. If people believed that a sabotaged voting machine or a defective ECU could pirate Blu-rays, we'd live in a safer world.

  3. Big fail from the software engineering standpoint. by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Just my take as a software engineer and current DoD employee that works with C17...

    There should have been some process on firing up the jet / avionics / computers that ran checks to see that even if software was not latest, was it CONSISTENT?

    Big fail from the software engineering standpoint.

    --
    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
  4. Re:Good god. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    limp mode also governs engine RPM to a rather low threshold (sometimes it will simply force the vehicle to a high idle and ignore the throttle entirely if it's drive-by-wire). It is activated if the ECU detects significant engine issues, most especially extreme knocking. It is not limited to the transmission. I've had that mode happen to me on the highway when I only half-way plugged in a MAF sensor and the ECU received significantly faulty data causing wildly incorrect fuel-air mixture ratios. Rather frustrating and a bit dangerous to be honest. :( But better than the engine grenading.

  5. Re:Good god. by 0123456 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You mean, people accidentally mashing both pedals at the same time?

    Possibly. But there was a published third-party analysis of Toyota's ECU software which made me reluctant to buy one:

    http://embeddedgurus.com/barr-...

    I was glad to see that my new SUV automatically cuts the gas if it detects you pressing both pedals at the same time, even if due to a bad sensor or crashed throttle-monitoring process (yeah, I know, that means no left-foot braking, but if you're doing that in an SUV, you're probably doing it wrong).