Stealth fighters hit by software crash

[JorgeIvan]

A software glitch forced 12 United States Air Force F-22A Raptor stealth fighters to cancel their first overseas flight.

The jets were flying from Hawaii to Japan when they were forced to turn back after suffering problems with their navigation systems.

Retired Air Force general Don Shepperd told CNN Television that the onboard navigation, communications and fuel systems crashed as the planes crossed the International Date Line.

The problem seems to have arisen not from the time change, but from the change in longitude from W179.99 degrees to E180 which occurs on the International Date Line.

The USAF refused to specify the cause of the issue saying only that the aircraft "experienced a software problem involving the navigation system en route from Hickam to Kadena".

For "operational security reasons" the USAF declined to discuss specific aircraft systems or locations.

The F-22A Raptors reportedly had to turn round and return to Hawaii using only visual contact with their tankers.

The $125m planes, the most expensive fighters ever built, returned safely, but the situation may have been disastrous if they had not been with their tankers or the weather had turned bad.

The Raptors have since made it to Kadena with more than 250 personnel from the 27th Fighter Squadron, Langley Air Force Base in Virginia, as part of a scheduled rotational assignment lasting 90 to 120 days.

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2184227/...-software-crash

[.Ark]

riskeh.

[strekship]

Someone forgot to debug their software.

[Cyplex]

Someone forgot to install SP1 prior to the trip. :pinch:

[d3nuo]

i wonder if they were running ultimate or business edition?

[Snakehn]

Eagle 1-6 reporting BSOD...... LOL

[halcyoncmdr]

They probably should have released a public beta... maybe combine it with Flight Simulator X like MSGS did with Crackdown and Halo 3. :p

[Digitalx]

Cross the date line ... uh-oh 50th of febuary 2007.

[Sethos]

"Sir, Dreamscene crashed"

"Damn! Recall those planes private!"

[NienorGT]

F-22 Raptors running Windows? :rofl:

[Fourjays Veteran]

It is somewhat worrying that they spend $125m on a plane, and then the software crashes when it comes to something so simple.

We might not know the full story though, being a military organisation and all...

[Digitalx]

"Sir, Dreamscene crashed"

"Damn! Recall those planes private!"

bahahah rofl

[choronic]

I think it's running window vista.. :(

Mayb the raptors have unsopported software inside?

[Pink Floyd Veteran]

I was wondering how long it would take before someone says it was runing on windows. It only took less than a hour. :no:

[Azusa]

lol just stick with the old OS don't use the HOS lols

[MaceX]

So .999... doesn't equal 1!

[Scirwode]

It's Skynet I tell you! It's finally gone online and Judgement Day is around the corner where all machines will rise to destroy the human race. The Terminator will come and try to save one of us from absolute destruction (or Arnold Schwarzenegger if that floats your boat).

:shiftyninja:

Scirwode

[Regert]

Geee. Kind of weird.

Wonder how sophisticated software they have. And why they don't do like russian or the others and use at least as backup already existing realiable, rudimentary technology. If you are a fighter pilot, shouldn't you be so elite to navigate by an old-fasshined altimeter, high-grade manual compass with a gryo or somethinfg like that?

Especieally taking into the price and work they put into the planes?

Or at least have two parallell independent systems running that are not build by the same standars i.e have a different set of possible bugs.

Well well. Good it all went well this time. Hope they debug this code.

Or... maybe they are running a MS system too. Vista Business would be my guess. I'm sure someone sneaked in some unsoppoerted software and the system didn't think it was safe enough.

Who knows.

:-D

[Sethos]

You also gotta remember, pretty much all planes are kept in the air because of the electronics - Not because the pilots can't fly.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Lets get back to the topic.

It's surprising how a small glitch like that was never found. Imagine if that glitch occurred during a bomb run over some country.

[webeagle12]

Daylight Savings Time :woot:

[Sethos]

Okay, I'll stop :blush:

[Menge]

stealth fighters... does that mean that they made radars BSOD? :D

hmmm wait... that wouldn't be a crash right? that'd be a feature!!! :D

[Regert]

You also gotta remember, pretty much all planes are kept in the air because of the electronics - Not because the pilots can't fly.

Well, true. forgot that those are like that. Forward swept wings and unstable aerodynamics. ^^

[ToneKnee]

Well, true. forgot that those are like that. Forward swept wings and unstable aerodynamics. ^^

And Air tracking; you don't want to fly into a cloud to go head-to-head with a 747.