Canog, Jerico T.

CS150-B11

Case Study: Pilots Computer Error Cited in Plane Crash,

American Airlines Says One-Letter Code was Reason Jet Hit
Mountain in Columbia.

The case deals with an airplane crash that is associated with the wrong
input of a computer command. The basic issue in this article is that the
captain of the Boeing 757 had a mistake in inputting the correct coordinates
for the autopilot function of the plane. The plane was supposed go to Cali but
the captain had an error in looking up the database for the coordinate
because the database for Cali and Bogota have differences.
The article stated that the captain had an error in inputting the
coordinates to the system the software itself didnt cause the actual crash
but it was the misunderstanding of the captain with the values in the
database. The database of Cali and Bogota has different values that
contributed with the error of the captain. This article is evidence that we do
not have any crisis within the software itself but with the using of the
software itself. The
Software engineering contributed a lot within the aviation system in
terms of fast computation and assistance in landing the plane. Software
engineering provided airplane system with easier navigation and automated
landing. It helped in providing fast computations and process within the
navigation system and helped pilots to be guided in their flight. They
provided digital systems in representing the data to the pilots and provided
better assistance in autopilots.
In resolving the problem within the misunderstanding of the data
within the system of the plane a solution is that we consider the difference
between the databases of the different destination of the flight. Knowing the
difference between the databases we can make a solution during the
software development. We can prevent such a thing from happening by
making the databases consistent so we can have minimal misunderstanding
between the pilot and the traffic controller of the airport. The main crisis in
this case is that the captain has entered a wrong coordinate because of the
inconsistency of the databases between the destinations.