F-22 Squadron Shot Down by the International Date Line

F-22A, back to Hickam…(click to view full) Aircraft software can be serious business. DID’s F-22A Raptor FOCUS Article mentioned recent flight software problems that delayed the aircraft’s first foreign deployment from Hickam AFB in Hawaii to Kadena AFB, Japan. What we didn’t mention at the time is how serious the problem was, and how dependent on computers modern aircraft – including military aircraft – have become. What follows are relevant excerpts from a CNN transcript on February 24, 2007 that covered a number of unrelated issues. We’ve cut that out, and left only the F-22 related section of the transcript… KC-10: Life saver…(click to view full) Maj. Gen. Don Sheppard (ret.): “…At the international date line, whoops, all systems dumped and when I say all systems, I mean all systems, their navigation, part of their communications, their fuel systems. They were — they could have been in real trouble. They were with their tankers. The tankers – they tried to reset their systems, couldn’t get them reset. The tankers brought them back to Hawaii. This could have been real serious. It certainly could have been real serious if the weather had been bad. It turned out OK. It was fixed […]