Posts by N.

Boeing 737 pilots battled confused safety system that plunged aircraft to their deaths – black box

Re: Hey software, get the fuck out of the way!

<< As I understand it the two-inputs alarm did ring. But the pilots were too distracted by other alarms to notice. >>

My recollection is that the pilots were not fighting over the control of the plane. The captain put the younger pilot in charge before going to bed. When the Pitot probes froze, this pilot set the plane in a steep climb, as the book recommended, but without informing his colleague. The plane stalled. At an altitude of 600 m, he told his colleague about what he was doing for the last five minutes or so. The more experienced pilot understood immediately what was happening ; he took over and set the plane in a dive. Near the water surface, the younger pilot got scared and battled with his colleague for control. It was too late, anyway.

That is what I remember from reading the investigation report ; I might be wrong.

CEO insisted his email was on server that had been offline for years

Paper better than bits

The company I worked for obligingly stored hard copies of messages between my managers and the HR in my HR personal file. Here is an excerpt from an email sent by my manager to his manager, to the local HR director and to my local HR contact :

« It is true that Nicolas has a "problem of principle" with any activity related to this product. Hence the initial idea to focus the second job offer on an activity related to this software [name deleted], as this would quasi-certainly lead to a refusal from him, whereas there is a real risk of his accepting an offer based on a pre-sales activity. »

In plain English : « I'll make him an offer he cannot not refuse. »

The judge was not pleased :

« The Conseil de Prud'hommes de Grenoble, (...) after deliberating according to the law,

SAYS that Mr. Nicolas [name deleted] was the victim of moral harassment,

SAYS that the dismissal of Mr. Nicolas [name deleted] is null (...) »

For an explanation of the "problem of principle", read this independent coverage (some French required) :

https://www.lepostillon.org/Comment-un-salarie-peut-rester-dix-ans-sans-travail.html

(Small clarification : the server maker, not the PC maker.)

-Nicolas