5 Apr
1999
5 Apr
'99
10:40 p.m.
On Mon, 5 Apr 1999, Max Eskin wrote:
I have heard of Airbuses crashing because the controls
were poorly
designed. I've never heard of a 777 crashing. I've also never heard of any
medical machines failing, though this would tend to be underpublicized.
In honesty, I've never examined either the 777 or Airbus directly. I
prefer not to fly -- after I left the USAF (and started working with
medical electronics), I took my first (only) programming course so I
could design lighter-than-air transportation systems. Call them
Zeppelins if you want, though my designs have little in common with
the machines around in the 1930s -- a lot of progress has been made
since the mishap at Lakehurst. Even while I was in the USAF I hated
airplanes -- gravity never allows better than a draw and I prefer to
win.
And yes, failure of medical equipment tends to be unpublicised.
"Underpublicized" is a nice little weasel-word. Like the relative
proportions between shootings of bystanders by police and citizens
(the cops make lots more mistakes) is "underpublicized".
--
Ward Griffiths
"the timid die just like the daring; and if you don't take the plunge then
you'll just take the fall" Michael Longcor