Article

2005-06-08 Europe

Airbus A380 Software Feud Lands In Court

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Posted by Uloting Uneting5064 2005-06-08 03:22|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Certification needs to be rigorous here, especially in software. Problems in the air with software running the show do not leave the pilot with many options. I wonder what the FAA requirements will be if the A380 will be flying to the US. I can see a battle brewing if the FAA sticks to its guns.

Posted by Alaska Paul">Alaska Paul 2005-06-08 11:21|| 2005-06-08 11:21|| Front Page Top

#2 Yeah, might be a good idea to work the bugs out...

http://www.simradar.com/Feature/2315/Airbus_Crash_in_Airshow.html

Posted by tu3031 2005-06-08 12:39|| 2005-06-08 12:39|| Front Page Top

#3 Thanks to that rigor, computer circuits have never been implicated in a major plane crash. Still, electronic glitches have led to crashes of jetfighters and spacecraft and there have been some close calls with commercial airliners. On Feb. 8, a Virgin Atlantic Airways flight to London from Hong Kong with 293 passengers and 18 crew on board made an emergency landing in Amsterdam after bugs in the computerized fuel-management system of the Airbus A340-600 starved one engine of fuel and almost shut down a second. British investigators are still analyzing the "serious incident," but Airbus reprogrammed the system at their urging.

Not a good precedent.

The subcontractor, closely held TTTech Computertechnik AG of Vienna, denies the allegations of the former employee, Joseph Mangan. TTTech's chief executive, Stefan Poledna, says he fired the engineer in October for poor job performance and contends Mr. Mangan now wants revenge. TTTech has brought both a criminal and a civil suit against him for defamation and has taken legal steps to stop him from making claims about TTTech and its products, which Mr. Poledna said caused TTTech "considerable damage." Attempts to settle out of court have failed.

TTTech's suits against Mr. Mangan, a 40-year-old American, as well his own suit against the company, are playing out in Vienna district court.

Mr. Mangan, a freelance aerospace and software specialist who worked for TTTech for six months, contends that certain potential problems in TTTech's products, if they arise, could ripple throughout the cabin-air system and cause passenger injuries or even a crash.

It appears that they adapted some commerical off-the-shelf software, but the original vendor did not write the code or certify the development and testing process to the level they require. It's used in other transportation applications, but in contexts where the lower level of certification is appropriate.

They took an unacceptable short-cut. If I was on the Jury, i'd vote to nail TTTech.

However, the REAL experts usually get bumped first during jury selection. If they're not using a jury, I sympathize with the Judge.

Posted by Ptah">Ptah 2005-06-08 14:20|| http://www.crusaderwarcollege.org]">[http://www.crusaderwarcollege.org] 2005-06-08 14:20|| Front Page Top

#4 Let see.... hmmmmm.....

(alt) (control) (stall) (stall) (stall)

Posted by Shipman 2005-06-08 16:30|| 2005-06-08 16:30|| Front Page Top

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