re: Alfa - future systems

["David B. Serafini" <dbs@domain.elided>]

> Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2001 18:19:39 -0400
> From: "brad artigue" <brad_artigue@domain.elided>
> 
> Noting your signature line, you trust computer systems every day in a 91 164.
> Air bag and engine management...  Ever fly in an Airbus or Boeing aircraft
> manufactured in the last couple of decades?  Fly by wire.

There's a big difference between a jumbo jet and a car.  The FAA requires
the airplane companies to do rigorous testing and provide oodles of
documentation and a plane can't fly until the FAA is convinced it 
works.   While working at Boeing I once heard that the documentation
for a 747 weighs more than the plane does.

Car safety (at least in USA) is a reactive process, not a proactive
on.  The NHTSA regulates by forcing recalls after a car has been
proven to be unsafe.  The FAA regulates by preventing deployment until
the car is proven safe.

-david

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