Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent

It’s Time for Aircraft Telemetry

Posted

Two of the most valuable tools in determining the causes of air disasters are the ‘black boxes’ which are found in every commercial airliner. One is a cockpit voice recorder which tapes the sounds and conversations between crew members in the cockpit. The other is a flight data recorder, which electronically records various bits of information about the state of the aircraft including control positions, engine performance, etc.

The problem, however, is that these boxes are stored in the aircraft. When a plane goes down at sea—like TWA Flight 800 in 1996 or Air France Flight 447 this week—the effort to recover the black boxes can take weeks, if they are ever recovered at all. On September 11, 2001, black boxes from the two planes that were crashed into the World Trade Center towers were destroyed (along with all the data contained therein) in the fires and collapses that followed.

It doesn’t have to be that way. We have the technology to remain constantly connected, even in the most remote places in the world. Commercial aircraft could be equipped with telemetry systems that constantly beam their exact position and all the information typically recorded on flight data recorders to satellites and ground stations, where they could be routed to airline data centers and stored. A live recording from the cockpit voice recorder could also be beamed to remote locations and stored for a set period of time. If this technology were in use today, Air France (for example) could have viewed the flight information for Flight 447 instantaneously after it disappeared—complete with its most recent GPS position and the the flight data & cockpit voice recorder data with which to begin investigating the incident.

With the GPS positions recorded in real-time at a remote location, the search for Flight 447 could have very quickly honed in on the location of the presumed crash. In this case it likely would have made no difference in saving lives, but in other incidents lives might be saved by having this kind of detailed information immediately after a disaster. Furthermore, accident investigation could potentially start and thus finish faster if investigators had immediate access to flight data & cockpit voice recorder information before the oft-delayed physical recovery of black boxes. Where an air disaster occurs due to flawed policy or mechanical problems, identifying the cause and remedying the issue faster will potentially save lives.

It’s time to start using the technology we have at our disposal.

The Murder of George Tiller

Posted

On May 31, Scott Roeder walked into a Lutheran church in Wichita, Kansas, approached George Tiller, and shot him to death. I join with every rational, law abiding American in condemning this vicious act of murder. I pray for Tiller, his family, his church, his community, and others affected by his senseless death.

In-and-of itself, a murder of this sort is not particularly newsworthy outside of local media. Only one person was killed, and that person was obviously targeted. This was no random act, or mass shooting, or act of terrorism. These kinds of murders happen every day in the United States and, indeed, in almost every country, but they do not normally have reach outside of the local news reports.

Tiller’s murder, however, is unique in that he was one of the most prominent practitioners of abortions. In his Wichita clinic, untold numbers of unborn children—each possessing unique, human DNA—were put to death (see ‘The Notre Dame Controversy‘ for a more in-depth look at the moral issue of abortion). Tiller’s clinic was one of only three in the United States to practice ‘partial birth’ abortion, formally known as ‘intact dilation and extraction’, which made his clinic a flash-point for pro-life protesters and Tiller himself a target of violence.

I cannot say it loudly or powerfully enough: the pro-life movement is a peaceful movement, and those who would commit acts of violence in the name of this movement are usurpers of the worst order. A movement dedicated to the protection of human life, by nature, cannot be a movement that would accept or endorse violence. The ends do not justify the means. We believe that an unborn child is a human being entitled to its own life, and aborting that child is murder. Murdering abortionists, however, is just as immoral, and is absolutely unacceptable.

But even as we condemn Tiller’s murder, we have a responsibility not to whitewash how Tiller lived his life. To do so would be akin to condemning Jack Ruby for killing Lee Harvey Oswald—as we should—but without acknowledging that Oswald himself was an assassin who had killed President John F. Kennedy (D).

Read more . . .

Windows 7 to be Released Oct. 22

Posted

Microsoft announced Tuesday that the next version of it flagship operating system, Windows 7, will be released on Oct. 22 of this year. Microsoft had been projecting a 2010 release and many (myself included) doubted the Redmond, WA-based company would be able to deliver. Windows 6 (Vista) was released many years later than originally projected and lacked many promised features, and Microsoft has a long history of missing its projected release dates for Windows and other projects. It appears that Microsoft may have changed its ways, and is in-fact revising its release projection for Windows 7 earlier than the original estimates.

All-in-all, Windows 7 is shaping up to be a great product . . . good features and a quick release cycle. A strong, successful Microsoft (competing fairly in the market) drives competition from the other operating system makers, and thus benefits all of us—even those of us who are pretty exclusively using Microsoft’s competitors these days.

We’ll see how it turns out.

GM to File for Bankruptcy; Gov’t To Take Majority Ownership

Posted

Media reports indicate that General Motors (GM) will be filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy at 8am tomorrow (Monday) and, as part of the filing, the government will take control of 60 percent of the company with another ‘investment’ of 30 billion dollars. Chapter 11 is the best course for GM, though most of us had the sense to say this six months ago before the government ‘invested’ billions upon billions of dollars to prolong and delay the inevitable for GM and Chrysler (which went into Chapter 11 a month ago). We will never see these billions upon billions of our dollars again.

Of course the Barack Obama (D) administration has somehow managed to top the unconstitutional ‘investments’ in GM (which started under the George W. Bush (R) administration) with an unconstitutional purchase of 60 percent of the company. Indeed, the government of the United States will soon be the owner of a mediocre, failing car company. I have asked President Obama through an email to explain to me exactly which clause in the U.S. Constitution authorizes the federal government to be in the auto manufacture business, but I sincerely doubt I’ll get an answer from our ‘Constitutional scholar’ president. He knows as well as I do that no such authorization exists, and these investments and purchases of private businesses run completely against the founding principles of our republic.

Read more . . .

A ‘Hybrid’ and Some Ducks

Posted

hybridducksI took two photos yesterday on the way home from work.

First, while stopped with a bunch of other cars at a red light, I noticed that the older Ford F-350 pickup in front of me was clearly driven/owned by someone with a sense of humor. They added (quite professionally) a ‘Hybrid’ label like that you see on Honda Civic Hybrids, Toyota Priuses, and Ford Escape Hybrids. I’m reasonably certain that the 1990s-era F-350 isn’t actually a hybrid, since the first hybrid to market was the Honda Insight in 2000.

Second, I got home around the time that the drizzle of rain had stopped and when I got of my car I noticed . . . ducks! For some reason four ducks were huddled together on the little parking island and looking somewhat forlorn. They seemed like they didn’t want to have their picture taken, but they actually let me get pretty close for this shot.

I am traveling this weekend, so don’t be surprised if this is the last you hear of me for a couple of days!

Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.