Reboot your airplane servers!

[StevieC]

This is just nuts... https://www.i-programmer.info/news/...-248-days-to-avoid-integer-overflow.html

Quote
Basically it says that all Boeing 787 Dreamliners have to be switched off every 248 days. If they are not reset then the generator control units GCUs will go into failsafe mode and the plane will lose all electrical power.

Why exactly?

To quote the FAA directive:

This condition is caused by a software counter internal to the GCUs that will overflow after 248 days of continuous power. We are issuing this AD to prevent loss of all AC electrical power, which could result in loss of control of the airplane.

 

[StevieC]

Follow up link is the comments from people who have read the story. Just as entertaining....

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17907654

 

[RamFan]

I just sat next to an Aerospace Engineer on a flight to San Diego. We talked about the Dreamliner quite a bit, this never came up. As someone who's not fond of flying, I'm grateful it didn't lol.

 

[StevieC]

I'm sure they have already issued communications to reboot them monthly so that there is a large margin for error if it gets missed. They can also reboot mid-flight without the plane falling from the sky.

 

[Colt45ws]

Silly someone couldnt do a bit of math and figure out the int they were using might be inappropriate.

 

[Timo325]

This is outdated.

Just so we all know. Their was never an incident. Aircraft power cycle frequently. An update was quickly published and fielded.

Even if the GCU's went into failsafe, Their are other sources of power such as the APU, batteries, and lastly the RAT.

AD's are important to get information out there, but this was a pretty close to a non-issue.

 

[StevieC]

With over 10,000 flights daily and a 1/2 a million people in the air at all times every day I was never worried. Does stuff happen? Sure but there are safeguards in place.

I went flying with my dad in his aircraft all the time and the issues we encountered like having to land with no engine ended perfectly fine. There are systems in place to manage these things.

I just posted the article because I had just learned of it and I thought it was a bit comical that the programmer didn't think this might be a problem.

 

[CT8]

The best way to make machines as fail safe as possible and aircraft are machinery, is to have no moving parts. Though impossible I'll settle for 1 moving part.

 

[BrocLuno]

Why wouldn't the electrical systems be cycled more often that 248 days? I would think that planes would be sidelined for inspections at least every 6 months. Would cycle all systems ...

 

[talest]

Originally Posted by CT8
The best way to make machines as fail safe as possible and aircraft are machinery, is to have no moving parts. Though impossible I'll settle for 1 moving part.


The nut behind the wheel?