OT:? C-130 Crashes in Kuwait

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It's 1:36 am pst and I just heard on the radio news of another military crash. This concerns a C-130 which was forced to make an emergency landing in Kuwait. 3 confirmed dead.

Was/is the military in the process of testing systems for Y2k compliancy? I believe I read that somewhere they would be testing systems at this time.



-- anonymous (name@address.witheld by request), December 10, 1999

Answers

Four plane crashes in the last 24 hours.

-- (normally@ease.notnow), December 10, 1999.

Anonymous: Since it isn't 2000 yet and the Herky bird is one of the most reliable aircraft ever, I doubt that there was a "Y2K" problem with it. I've got several thousand hours in that bird and trust it beyond any I've flown in.

-- Neil G.Lewis (pnglewis1@yahoo.com), December 10, 1999.

You're right, of course.

It would be downright foolish to set the clocks ahead to *test* them for y2k issues *now*.

It makes so much more sense to simply wait a few weeks, let things take their natural course, and then see if there are any problems in *real* time.

Besides, as we all know, problems that are virtually unsolvable *now* can be *easily* fixed in only two or three hours after 1/1/0.

-- Ron Schwarz (rs@clubvb.com.delete.this), December 10, 1999.


The Herc's problem was a hydraulic failure in the main gear system. Maybe a bad solenoid valve, but the controls are pure switch and relay. Nothing computerized involved. Heck, there's not much of any kind of computer at all on the C-130.

It's just a case of bad flying luck. The crew had an aircraft which suffered a mechanical failure resulting in an emergency landing which ended up being a Class A mishap with fatalities.

WW

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), December 10, 1999.


Might I lend, my own bit of paranoia here. I knew an aircraft programmer back in the 80's. I called him when I first got wind of the Y2K possibilities (18 months ago). I asked him if he was worried about Y2K, he said "No". Then I said, "think about it for a few minutes", and he did. Then he slowly said "Well, there might be a problem with the Infra-Red system of Aircraft A, and there might be a problem with the Landing Gear on Aircraft B. He did not do helicopters, that I know of. Landing Gear! That is critical!

-- What Next? Trains? (Need Helmet@planesfromsky.com), December 10, 1999.


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