NW_Pilot's Trans-Atlantic Flight -- All the scary details...
1) All avionics software implements internal isolation to prevent one
part of the system from taking down another part.
2) A faulty fuel reading cannot cause the system to reboot. In addition
to testing every possible faulty fuel value, I've tested every
combination of faulty sensor readings related to this thread and am
unable to get anything out of the ordinary to happen. The picture of
the fuel sensor with the red X is correct behavior when a gauge is
fauly or giving erroneous data.
3) When the system reboots due to a software error, a very obvious
message with a very obvious color is displayed on the screen prior to
the reboot. Was this seen? I have seen no mention of it.
4) FYI to a few: the CO message is indicating an error in the detector,
not CO in the cabin.
What was going on with the second display?
Was the "Initializing System" message being displayed each time it
'rebooted'?
During the 15minute intervals between reboots, how operational was the
system?
I won't delve into the actual debate issues of whether to go glass,
realtime reliability vs. features demanded, benefits vs. risk of
various situational awareness methods, or anything like that. I'm just
trying to get the facts straight. No software engineer would claim a
flawless system, but the facts so far do not allow for a simple answer
such as the fuel gauge or airspeed indication being the only cause.
Something very strange had to be going with where that escaping fuel
was going. If it was affecting three gauges (airspeed, co detector,
fuel) in a measurable way, who knows what it could have been doing to
less obvious internal wirings of the aircraft. I've never heard of a
report of a continuously rebooting system, and there are a lot out
there. The somewhat drastic customizations and the newness of the
aircraft add to suspicion. That said, there's no excuse for a failure,
wherever in the aircraft that failure is determined to be.
PS: I appreciate the balanced feedback and analysis of most of this
group. Don't feed the 20% trolls.
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