[LEAPSECS] Tripping over the International Date Line

Rob Seaman seaman at noao.edu
Tue Mar 6 19:10:46 EST 2007


Once Mean Solar Time is safely eradicated, perhaps we can move on to
stamping out the dastardly International Date Line :–)

Rob
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Comp.risks (http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/24.58.html) reports on a
Y2K-like issue with the spiffy new F-22 "Raptor" jet fighter:

USAF F-22A jets grounded by software glitch

<"Peter G. Neumann" <neumann at csl.sri.com>>
Mon, 26 Feb 2007 14:32:19 PST
The F-22 continues to encounter bumps in its first air
expeditionary force
deployment to Okinawa. The 12 aircraft from Langley AFB, Va.,
spent an
unscheduled week at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, after the leading four had to
abort the trip's last leg. As the Raptors reached the
International Date
Line, the navigation computers locked up, so the aircraft returned to
Hickam until a software patch was readied. "Apparently we had
built an
aircraft for the Western Hemisphere only," says a senior U.S. Air
Force
official. When the F-22s arrived at Kadena AB, Okinawa, some
Japanese
citizens held a protest against the aircraft's noise. [Source:
Aviation
Week & Space Technology, 26 Feb 2007, p.18; thanks to John Rushby and
Martyn Thomas for that item. PGN]

Gene Spafford noted another article:
http://www.dailytech.com/Lockheeds+F22+Raptor+Gets+Zapped+by
+International+Date+Line/article6225.htm

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