[LEAPSECS] Tripping over the International Date Line

[Rob Seaman]

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

Rob
------

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

-------

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/leapsecs/attachments/20070306/bacd81b8/attachment.htm