Comment by supernova87a
Comment by supernova87a 4 days ago
I wonder how the incident was diagnosed? Does the FDR record low level errors that might've contributed to this? I thought that it only recorded certain input parameters and high-level flight metrics but I'm no expert.
If a radiation event caused some bit-flip, how would you realize that's what triggered an error? Or maybe the FDR does record when certain things go wrong? I'm thinking like, voting errors of the main flight computers?
Anyway, would be very interested to know!
From a comment on avherald:
"Had the same problem with low power CMOS 3 transistor memory cells used in implantable defibrillators in the 1990s. Needed software detection and correction upgrade for implanted devices, and radiation hardening for new devices. Issue was confirmed to be caused by solar radiation by flying devices between Sydney and Buenos Aires over the south pole multiple times, accumulating a statistically significant different error rate to control sample in Sydney."