3 ms·

Similar problem in an aeroplane, the Boeing 787 would fail if it had been powered on continuously for 248 days: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/may/01

Similar problem in an aeroplane, the Boeing 787 would fail if it had been powered on continuously for 248 days: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/may/01/us-aviation-authority-boeing-787-dreamliner-bug-could-cause-loss-of-control https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/may/01/us-aviation... You don't really think it would be necessary to turn off your plane then turn it back on again, but here we are.

gubby 9y ago
Ha, 248 days is the point at which a 32bit signed int wraps round if counting in milliseconds.
- mvitorino 9y ago
  I believe it needs to be a 10ms tick.
araes 9y ago
And I thought the car analogy was bad. Imagine hearing that excuse at 30,000 ft. (or being the pilot and having to give it) as all the lights in the cabin go off and the actuators stop working (would the turbines stop firing?) "Have you tried restarting it? Maybe boot it in safe mode." Loved the bit at the end 'Operators will perform periodic power cycling at scheduled intervals until incorporating a software update.' Sad that this story's "thought experiment" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16393740 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16393740 from 8 days ago may be the future, not a joke. Sorry you couldn't drive to work, we're pushing an update to your car by the middle of the week.
- Moru 9y ago
  On ground standing still and at 30,000 ft height is probably the safest times for the generators to fail. Plenty of time to fix. Imagine this happening during take-off or landing?
- busterarm 9y ago
  Don't joke. On my first trip flying anywhere ever, on the first leg of the return trip, an AA flight from Austin to St. Louis, we had to abort takeoff while the front wheel was up because all of the on-board computer systems died simultaneously. I've never been in more of a white-knuckle situation in my life, including the time a tire blew while landing at IAD. We then sat on tarmac for close to 3 more hours while they replaced the computers and we took off again in the same plane.
syntheticnature 9y ago
I've probably told this story before. I was on a turboprop flight about to depart the airport when we come to a stop and the pilot says that they have a problem with one of the bits of avionics -- I think he said it was for navigation, and that a mechanic was being driven over to swap it out. This isn't unexpected per se; my knowledge of avionics is that a lot of design goes into making things easy to change out. If you can just swap the chunk that's not working out the plane gets into the air much faster and the electronics can be examined at leisure. So we're sitting there about fifteen minutes, and the pilot comes on and says "Well, the mechanic says we should try powering down the plane and powering it back up before we exchange it." They do so. It seems to take a good bit of time, probably five minutes. The pilot comes on and says "Well, that didn't work, but the mechanic wants us to try one more time." Once again, everything on the plane shuts down, we sit there in the darkness, and then the plane starts back up. The pilot comes on and says "We're all good now, so we're going to leave the airport." I felt a bit nervous the whole flight.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]

gubby 9y ago

Ha, 248 days is the point at which a 32bit signed int wraps round if counting in milliseconds.

mvitorino 9y ago
I believe it needs to be a 10ms tick.

araes 9y ago

And I thought the car analogy was bad. Imagine hearing that excuse at 30,000 ft. (or being the pilot and having to give it) as all the lights in the cabin go off and the actuators stop working (would the turbines stop firing?) "Have you tried restarting it? Maybe boot it in safe mode." Loved the bit at the end 'Operators will perform periodic power cycling at scheduled intervals until incorporating a software update.' Sad that this story's "thought experiment" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16393740 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16393740 from 8 days ago may be the future, not a joke. Sorry you couldn't drive to work, we're pushing an update to your car by the middle of the week.

Moru 9y ago
On ground standing still and at 30,000 ft height is probably the safest times for the generators to fail. Plenty of time to fix. Imagine this happening during take-off or landing?
busterarm 9y ago
Don't joke. On my first trip flying anywhere ever, on the first leg of the return trip, an AA flight from Austin to St. Louis, we had to abort takeoff while the front wheel was up because all of the on-board computer systems died simultaneously. I've never been in more of a white-knuckle situation in my life, including the time a tire blew while landing at IAD. We then sat on tarmac for close to 3 more hours while they replaced the computers and we took off again in the same plane.

syntheticnature 9y ago

I've probably told this story before. I was on a turboprop flight about to depart the airport when we come to a stop and the pilot says that they have a problem with one of the bits of avionics -- I think he said it was for navigation, and that a mechanic was being driven over to swap it out. This isn't unexpected per se; my knowledge of avionics is that a lot of design goes into making things easy to change out. If you can just swap the chunk that's not working out the plane gets into the air much faster and the electronics can be examined at leisure. So we're sitting there about fifteen minutes, and the pilot comes on and says "Well, the mechanic says we should try powering down the plane and powering it back up before we exchange it." They do so. It seems to take a good bit of time, probably five minutes. The pilot comes on and says "Well, that didn't work, but the mechanic wants us to try one more time." Once again, everything on the plane shuts down, we sit there in the darkness, and then the plane starts back up. The pilot comes on and says "We're all good now, so we're going to leave the airport." I felt a bit nervous the whole flight.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]