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Boeing 787 "Blacklisted" From Some Air Traffic Control Services (flightglobal.com)

Posted by timothy on from the flight-oh-oh-nine-please-repeat-your-position dept.

An anonymous reader writes: A software glitch causes the Boeing 787 to report its position incorrectly, which has led Australia and Canada to 'blacklist' the aircraft from using ADB-S and until it is resolved the latest Boeing is treated as an aircraft without ADS-B capabilities. The practical implication is that the aircraft is not allowed to use reduced separation procedures and an maximum altitude limit of 29,000 feet was also considered. Boeing denies that the bug causes a safety hazard because existing services (radar) still allow safe operation. A bugfix is coming to restore ADS-B functionality.

2 of 96 comments (clear)

  1. It's not really a blacklist then, is it? by halivar · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's graceful degradation.

  2. Not a safety hazard? My ass! by LordKronos · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Nav Canada first detected a problem on 1 July 2014 when controllers noticed a 787 appearing to deviate up to 38nm (70km) from its planned track. The controllers alerted the crew by radio, but the pilots insisted their instruments showed they were still on course. Suddenly, however, the 787 “was observed jumping back to the flight plan route” on the controller’s screens, according to ICAO documents.

    I'm sorry, but if a plane is reporting that it is 70km from where it actually is, that's no small deviation. That deviation is more than 10 times the required flight separation. It may not pose a safety hazard once controllers already know they have to fall back to the older system. But before this was discovered? That's a HUGE safety hazard. The only reason they can get away with claiming it wasn't a safety hazard was because they lucked out and the system only screwed up when there were no other planes around