By Charles Miller
Last week the subject of this column was Digital Forensics, and a discussion of what is involved in investigating the causes of a computer malfunction. In most cases, the high costs involved in performing a thorough forensics investigation is simply not justified only to satisfy idle curiosity. One place where this is never the case though is in the transportation industry, however; in some rare cases no amount of money is enough to discover an answer as to why a computer malfunctioned. This is something Quantas airlines and Airbus SE learned in 2008.
On October 7th, 2008 Quantas Airlines flight 72 was bound from Singapore to Perth when its autopilot abruptly pitched the plane into a violent dive. The pilots quickly took manual control and recovered, but not before 110 people were injured as a result of being thrown to the ceiling.
The flight crew did not only an heroic job of saving the plane but also recognized the need to shut off the flight control computers to preserve evidence. After the plane made a successful emergency landing it then became the target of a thorough investigation to determine why the autopilot almost made the plane fall out of the sky.
Participants in the investigation included Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority, Qantas Airlines, the French accident investigation authority Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses (BEA), and Airbus (the plane’s manufacturer). Soon after landing the plane was completely shut down, all systems turned off. After recording and photographing cabin damage the investigators basically took the plane apart removing panels to examine miles of wiring for damage. This was done prior to restoring power to the aircraft, then downloading data from the aircraft’s on-board computerized systems could be done.
The black boxes confirmed that the aircraft had pitched down, due to a combination of problems involving two aircraft systems; the flight control computers and one of the aircraft’s three air data inertial reference units (ADIRUs). But why?
Airbus really wanted to know. They had built more than 10,000 of the model A330 aircraft that had accrued over in over 28 million flight hours (3.000+ years) without this problem occurring. It was certainly troubling that after spending what had to be millions on the investigation; experts simply could not determine definitively what had caused the computer malfunction.
In its final report the ATSB suggested it was possibly the fault of one of those things that go bump in the night, something that leaves no evidence, and something that can happen any time and to any computer… including yours. You knew I would eventually bring this story around to how it relates to your personal computers, smartphones, and tablets.
The supposed cause of the malfunction is, it could be said; out of this world. It is something that is continuing to happen today. I am out of time for this week so you will need to buy Atencion next week for the rest of the story.
Charles Miller is a freelance computer consultant, a frequent visitor to San Miguel since 1981 and now practically a full-time resident. He may be contacted at 415-101-8528 or email FAQ8@SMAguru.com.
