In a recent lecture, I pointed the class at the recent software glitch encountered by the flight software for the newly deployed F-22 fighter jet.
A CAETE student sent me the following additional information on that incident:
It takes about 1.7 million lines of computer code to run the F-22A's
avionics, according to the Air Force. It turns out none of them deal with
what happens when the jet suddenly changes dates and time zones by crossing
the 180th meridian in the Pacific Ocean, the international date line. On
Feb. 11, when a dozen Raptors en route from Hawaii to Japan crossed the
international date line for the first time, the jetsí Global Positioning
System navigation avionics went haywire, forcing the pilots to turn around.
A GPS receiver uses signals from orbiting satellites to determine its
location, altitude and speed. 'This was the first time we've done it, so it
was the first time we saw it,' said Col. Tom Bergeson, an F-22A pilot and
commander of the 1st Operations Group, Langley Air Force Base, Va., which
deployed the Raptors. In less than 48 hours, F-22A contractor Lockheed
Martin delivered a software fix. An F-22A at Nellis successfully flew with
the updated software, Bergeson said.