Well, I spent a number of years loading nukes on aircraft and eventually was in charge of a weapons storage area with 80 of those little "Let's make cities and populations glow in the dark" objects. I know for a fact I'm not insane,...oh my, look at the pretty light outside my window...
Maybe I wasn't clear, the mainframe in maintenance has nothing to do directly with inflight operations. The computers on board are completely independent of those in the maintenance system. Now, if there are wireless connections, allowing the maintenance mainframe and the aircraft to share information, it MAY be possible for a virus to gain access to the aircraft, but I am pretty sure this has not happened yet, possibly to the security in place, or possibly no one has really tried to infect an aircraft with a virus.
Indirectly, the maintenance mainframe's failure to alert on related system faults MAY be a factor in future mishaps, but it does not appear that the infected mainframe had anything to do with this one.
The latter is the more correct statement. The investigation determined that the aircrew overrode a weight-on-wheels sensor, allowing the aircraft to think it was in "flight" mode while on the ground. In effect, the aircrew defeated three separate safety measures to cause this mishap.
The IT problem with the maintenance mainframe may be something to consider to prevent future accidents, but it appears it had little/no effect on this one.
Hate to rain on the IT parade here, but the investigation revealed that the aircrew had the aircraft on "in-flight" mode, leading to erroneous indications (forcing the first abort), and then excluding the no flaps/no slats pre-takeoff configuration error warning. The crew also called for the flaps/slats settings to be proper without actually checking them. In effect, they were able to defeat three separate safety measures to prevent exactly this kind of mishap from happening.
It does not appear that an infection of the mainframe maintenance computer is anything more than a side note in this particular mishap. It may, however, be something for airline maintenance personnel to be aware of to prevent future incidents.
The real question is why the aircrew are allowed to override a weight-on-wheels (WOW) sensor, when that is primary used for troubleshooting by ground crews. Putting the aircraft into "flight" mode while on the ground requires special attention to actions/procedures (as in when a USAF F-4 shot up a maintenance truck when the WOW switch was in override and the weapons crew performed an ops check on the gun system--ops check good, BTW).
Please read the Parable of the Talents, as told by Jesus in Matthew, chapter 25, starting at verse 14. Interest/usury was only forbidden against other Jews in the Old Testament. What you do with your money, how you treat God's gift to you, is the point. If God has blessed you with the ability to make money, legally and fairly, and you use that to do God's will (help the poor, build up his church, feed the hungry, send missions to the ends of the Earth, etc), then you are to be praised. If you just hide your talents (literally and figuratively) under the bed, then you reject God's blessings and reject His confidence in you to do His work. I also refer you to 1Corinthians 10:23, ("Everything is permissible"-but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible"-but not everything is constructive). We have the freedom as believers in Christ to use the talents God gives us as we think best serves God's plan (hopefully with lots of prayer for guidance), but we need to ensure it is beneficial and constructive, and seeks the good of others. Therefore we don't have to worry about proscriptions on types of foods, or interest, or the other rules of the Old Testament, as that covenant has been fulfilled. We have a new covenant in Jesus Christ. 2Corinthians, Chapter 3, verse 6: He has made us competent ministers of a new covenenant-not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."
Unless, of course, you are Jewish, then the old rules still apply...
at (apparently) no one being fired for designing interconnects that only allow the LHC to run at 1/2 power? I may not be a scientist, but shouldn't a design cover the requirements? Then, to lose a year's work on top of that, and no one is getting their wrist slapped or even sued?
I hope that was an attempt at humor, but in case it wasn't...the.com address is used for public affairs purposes. the.mil address is alive and well, however, the AF Portal can only be accessed via a CAC card starting yesterday.
It has to do with CC (combat coded) designators for the aircraft in question. CC coded aircraft operated by other than the USG agency authorized to fly them have to be specifically exempt by Congress to be allowed to fly in U.S. airspace. As I understand it, older generations of aircraft, properly de-mil'd from being able to deploy weapons, can have the CC designation removed. "Newer" aircraft such as the F-4 still represent a threat (albeit small) and therefore we probably won't see many F-4s (or F-111s, F-14s, AC-130As, F-16s, F-15s, etc. all of which are in the boneyard at AMARC) flying in private hands in the near future.
AMARC= Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center, a tenet of Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona. They maintain them in a storage condition until the owing major commands authorize their re-generation for the primary or other USG agencies, sale to other nations, or processing through DRMS, the Defense Reutilization Marketing Service, usually for scrap metal.
"Geologists think Earth has a magnetic field because the core is made up of a solid iron center surrounded by rapidly spinning liquid rock...
Last I knew, the Earth's core was made up of two parts, solid iron surrounded by liquid iron and sulphur, and the spinning outer iron & sulphur core is what generates the Earth's magnetic field, not rock.
The Edwards UAVs are part of the test wing, and are not operational assets. The operational RQ-4s (Global Hawks) are operated out of Beale AFB, CA.
The UAVs operating out of/near Holloman AFB are probably supporting testing at White Sands, where there are a number of weapons test programs ongoing.
As for feeds from the UAVs on operations, the sensors transmit to the DCGSs through satellite feeds (though I suppose it's possible to have a direct feed, but DCGSs are chock full of top secret hardware and software and so it's unlikely that they would be anywhere near the shooting). The DCGSs payload operators work with the UAV pilots in coordinating flight paths to obtain reconnaissance/intelligence information. I'm not privy to the procedures for the dropping ordnance process, if the requesters talk directly to the operator, or if they have to go through an intermediary step. I do know that the response time is much shorter than it used to be, on the order of a few minutes from request to ordnance on target (assuming an armed overwatch presence).
Predators are controlled from Creech AFB, NV for the combat portion of the flight. Approach and landing are locally controlled. Note: For USAF assets only. As for CIA/other assets, who knows where they are controlled from?
Payload information can be downlinked from the Predators/UAVs to local receivers as well as transmitted via satellites to various DCGSs (Distributed Common Ground Stations), and I suspect that's what the bad guys are seeing.
Maybe my understanding on this issue is not up to everyone else's, but doesn't encryption take up bandwidth? And, isn't bandwidth the single largest problem with battlefield communication?
If I were designing the airbag, I'd look for direction of the force from the impact to determine deployment. Another factor may be to consider if the helicopter has the ability to autorotate and slow the second impact (that would call for some impressive sensor/computation combination in milliseconds). But, like a car getting hammered from the front and rear in a multi-car pileup, the first deployment may only keep you alive long enough to be killed by the second impact.... Having actually pulled dead aircrew from burning wreckage of an Air Force fighter, I know that not even the best ejection/protection system can protect you from all impacts.
So, does the airbag deploy during the initial 100+ mph head-on collision 100 feet up in the air, or does it wait for the subsequent collision with the ground 20 seconds later?
What gravity well do you live in that it takes 20 seconds to fall 100ft?
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Well, I spent a number of years loading nukes on aircraft and eventually was in charge of a weapons storage area with 80 of those little "Let's make cities and populations glow in the dark" objects. ...oh my, look at the pretty light outside my window...
I know for a fact I'm not insane,
Correct, for exactly that reason...
Maybe I wasn't clear, the mainframe in maintenance has nothing to do directly with inflight operations. The computers on board are completely independent of those in the maintenance system. Now, if there are wireless connections, allowing the maintenance mainframe and the aircraft to share information, it MAY be possible for a virus to gain access to the aircraft, but I am pretty sure this has not happened yet, possibly to the security in place, or possibly no one has really tried to infect an aircraft with a virus.
Indirectly, the maintenance mainframe's failure to alert on related system faults MAY be a factor in future mishaps, but it does not appear that the infected mainframe had anything to do with this one.
The latter is the more correct statement. The investigation determined that the aircrew overrode a weight-on-wheels sensor, allowing the aircraft to think it was in "flight" mode while on the ground. In effect, the aircrew defeated three separate safety measures to cause this mishap. The IT problem with the maintenance mainframe may be something to consider to prevent future accidents, but it appears it had little/no effect on this one.
Hate to rain on the IT parade here, but the investigation revealed that the aircrew had the aircraft on "in-flight" mode, leading to erroneous indications (forcing the first abort), and then excluding the no flaps/no slats pre-takeoff configuration error warning. The crew also called for the flaps/slats settings to be proper without actually checking them. In effect, they were able to defeat three separate safety measures to prevent exactly this kind of mishap from happening.
It does not appear that an infection of the mainframe maintenance computer is anything more than a side note in this particular mishap. It may, however, be something for airline maintenance personnel to be aware of to prevent future incidents.
The real question is why the aircrew are allowed to override a weight-on-wheels (WOW) sensor, when that is primary used for troubleshooting by ground crews. Putting the aircraft into "flight" mode while on the ground requires special attention to actions/procedures (as in when a USAF F-4 shot up a maintenance truck when the WOW switch was in override and the weapons crew performed an ops check on the gun system--ops check good, BTW).
Sandford and Son in Spaaaaaaace?
Please read the Parable of the Talents, as told by Jesus in Matthew, chapter 25, starting at verse 14. Interest/usury was only forbidden against other Jews in the Old Testament. What you do with your money, how you treat God's gift to you, is the point. If God has blessed you with the ability to make money, legally and fairly, and you use that to do God's will (help the poor, build up his church, feed the hungry, send missions to the ends of the Earth, etc), then you are to be praised. If you just hide your talents (literally and figuratively) under the bed, then you reject God's blessings and reject His confidence in you to do His work. I also refer you to 1Corinthians 10:23, ("Everything is permissible"-but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible"-but not everything is constructive). We have the freedom as believers in Christ to use the talents God gives us as we think best serves God's plan (hopefully with lots of prayer for guidance), but we need to ensure it is beneficial and constructive, and seeks the good of others. Therefore we don't have to worry about proscriptions on types of foods, or interest, or the other rules of the Old Testament, as that covenant has been fulfilled. We have a new covenant in Jesus Christ. 2Corinthians, Chapter 3, verse 6: He has made us competent ministers of a new covenenant-not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." Unless, of course, you are Jewish, then the old rules still apply...
SAC is back, only it's called "Global Strike Command" now.
Mod up for the Star Trek TOS reference; At least, I hope that's what you were inferring...
Mod up, please.
It's a feature!...from V'ger!
I think you meant an Ariane 5.
Yes
Getting yourself a buzz is one thing, making yourself sick as a dog blackout drunk is another.
Or, as I like to call it: "Time Travel..."
at (apparently) no one being fired for designing interconnects that only allow the LHC to run at 1/2 power? I may not be a scientist, but shouldn't a design cover the requirements? Then, to lose a year's work on top of that, and no one is getting their wrist slapped or even sued?
I hope that was an attempt at humor, but in case it wasn't...the .com address is used for public affairs purposes. the .mil address is alive and well, however, the AF Portal can only be accessed via a CAC card starting yesterday.
Hate to break the news, but for us married guys, what's in our pants has no freedom anymore...
I'm curious why
It has to do with CC (combat coded) designators for the aircraft in question. CC coded aircraft operated by other than the USG agency authorized to fly them have to be specifically exempt by Congress to be allowed to fly in U.S. airspace. As I understand it, older generations of aircraft, properly de-mil'd from being able to deploy weapons, can have the CC designation removed. "Newer" aircraft such as the F-4 still represent a threat (albeit small) and therefore we probably won't see many F-4s (or F-111s, F-14s, AC-130As, F-16s, F-15s, etc. all of which are in the boneyard at AMARC) flying in private hands in the near future.
AMARC= Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center, a tenet of Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona. They maintain them in a storage condition until the owing major commands authorize their re-generation for the primary or other USG agencies, sale to other nations, or processing through DRMS, the Defense Reutilization Marketing Service, usually for scrap metal.
Which one?
"Geologists think Earth has a magnetic field because the core is made up of a solid iron center surrounded by rapidly spinning liquid rock...
Last I knew, the Earth's core was made up of two parts, solid iron surrounded by liquid iron and sulphur, and the spinning outer iron & sulphur core is what generates the Earth's magnetic field, not rock.
The Edwards UAVs are part of the test wing, and are not operational assets. The operational RQ-4s (Global Hawks) are operated out of Beale AFB, CA.
The UAVs operating out of/near Holloman AFB are probably supporting testing at White Sands, where there are a number of weapons test programs ongoing.
As for feeds from the UAVs on operations, the sensors transmit to the DCGSs through satellite feeds (though I suppose it's possible to have a direct feed, but DCGSs are chock full of top secret hardware and software and so it's unlikely that they would be anywhere near the shooting). The DCGSs payload operators work with the UAV pilots in coordinating flight paths to obtain reconnaissance/intelligence information. I'm not privy to the procedures for the dropping ordnance process, if the requesters talk directly to the operator, or if they have to go through an intermediary step. I do know that the response time is much shorter than it used to be, on the order of a few minutes from request to ordnance on target (assuming an armed overwatch presence).
Predators are controlled from Creech AFB, NV for the combat portion of the flight. Approach and landing are locally controlled. Note: For USAF assets only. As for CIA/other assets, who knows where they are controlled from? Payload information can be downlinked from the Predators/UAVs to local receivers as well as transmitted via satellites to various DCGSs (Distributed Common Ground Stations), and I suspect that's what the bad guys are seeing.
Maybe my understanding on this issue is not up to everyone else's, but doesn't encryption take up bandwidth? And, isn't bandwidth the single largest problem with battlefield communication?
If I were designing the airbag, I'd look for direction of the force from the impact to determine deployment. Another factor may be to consider if the helicopter has the ability to autorotate and slow the second impact (that would call for some impressive sensor/computation combination in milliseconds). But, like a car getting hammered from the front and rear in a multi-car pileup, the first deployment may only keep you alive long enough to be killed by the second impact.... Having actually pulled dead aircrew from burning wreckage of an Air Force fighter, I know that not even the best ejection/protection system can protect you from all impacts.
So, does the airbag deploy during the initial 100+ mph head-on collision 100 feet up in the air, or does it wait for the subsequent collision with the ground 20 seconds later?
What gravity well do you live in that it takes 20 seconds to fall 100ft?