Enough on those SpanAir Trojan headlines!!

When will it ever stop? All these misleading headlines and in many cases totally misleading stories.

The SpanAir crash at Madrid was not in any way caused by a computer that had trojan horse software on it. The computer at the airlines headquarters which managed repair scheduling was later found to be laden with trojan malware. Its not a computer that was onboard the aircraft or had anything to do with the operation of the flight.

SpanAir flight from Madrid to Las Palmas in late August of 2008 crashed on takeoff because the crew failed to set the slats for takeoff, an absolutely critical procedure that was called out in the checklist but not actually performed. The automatic warning systems concerning the flaps and slats settings failed to sound an alarm because they are not supposed to sound when the plane is flying at high altitude. The alarm systems that did sound prior to the takeoff dealt with a pressure sensing system that is only supposed to sound at high altitude.

Physically that plane was on the ground. Electronically that plane "thought" it was already at high altitude. The pilots were not mentally there at all, but the plane did not crash because of any memory-choking malware on a maintenance-scheduling computer at SpanAir's headquarters! Why can't editors and re-write men get that straight?

On-Edit: Please note that the above rant about unprofessional journalism standards relates to the mis-reporting of the malware infected computer at SpanAir's headquarters as having had some effect on the crash.

For those interested in the crash:
It was, as they all are, pilot error. Errors that would be absurd for even a student pilot to have made.

The crew appear to have misinterpreted the stall warning as a fire warning. Well, each is serious perhaps but a stall warning is a well known sound and the remotest possibility of a stall takes precedence over any other sort of sensory input. The misinterpretation robbed the crew of a few moments of recovery time. Well, they had precious few moments to begin with and would have been unlikely to have recovered anyway. One would not expect such a lackadaisical crew to have performed a low level stall recovery correctly.

The crew failed to realize that if an alarm had been sounding an hour previously that only sounds when the plane is at high altitude then that meant they were on notice inquiry to investigate the "weight on nosewheel" switch. Yes, switch, not relay! Its the switch that is most likely to fail. Its the switch that is relatively exposed to the elements and debris accumulation. Just because the plane was obviously on the ground does not mean the various avionics systems knew that!

With a failed "weight on nosewheel" switch, the utterly critical alarm for "Idiotic Pilots Trying To Take-Off Without Slats" is automatically disabled. So there was no alarm for the one absolutely critical take-off setting on that plane! The lack of an electronic alarm however had absolutely nothing to do with the crew's failure to properly set the slats and properly check the slat setting in accordance with the checklist procedures.

25 year old Ph D candidate killed in glider.

A 25 year old archeology student died on impact after her glider's wings suffered a catastrophic separation at one thousand feet during a university glider competition. Such gliders are normally trailered to and assembled at the site. The young lady successfully completed a test flight just prior to the fatal flight. Her boyfriend who witnessed the accident saw nothing amiss in the configuration or operation of the aircraft prior to the abrupt separation of the wings from the fuselage. The young lady was known to be active in white water rafting and gliding and was known as a competent and experienced glider pilot.

No cause of the wing separation has been determined. It is expected that the British Air Ministry will delegate the responsibility for the investigation to the on-site university officials who were conducting the Inter University Gliding Competition. The glider design first appeared in the early 1960s. The wood glue used in this particular glider is unknown. Apparently some of the earlier casien based glues are subject to deterioration due to fungal growth. Later gliders are said to use plastic adhesives that are stronger than the wood to which they bond.

I would have been interested in seeing her PhD dissertation published since the topic was trace elements in soil and cancer distribution. I of course have my own opinions on the subject but am more interested in linking barium content of drinking water to later diagnoses of Multiple Sclerosis. Mainly its a more prompt though less specific diagnosis since cancers tend to appear later in life with the much debated "aging causes cancer" and "cancer causes aging" controversy still unresolved.

ADDENDUM: The official cause of the fatal accident was the failure of the lower bevel bolt to be installed properly. It is impossible for the pilot to inspect such bolts or the manner in which they have been inserted. The glider pilot had ten years of experience and was president of her collegiate gliding club. Her boyfriend who had the misfortune to have to watch her rapid and uncontrollable near vertical descent from approximately 1,000 feet was an experienced glider instructor. The accident was of course totally unsurvivable even if the lower but less reliable estimate of 600 feet is assumed.

I do so hope her unfinished PhD work on the geographic distribution of trace elements in the soil and the pattern of cancer diagnoses gets published. I remain particularly interested in barium distribution rates and the subsequent diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis.

Luke Mitchell case to be reviewed by SCCRC.

The Scottish Criminal Convictions Review Commission has notified Luke Mitchell, now a prisoner serving a Life Sentence for the murder of 14 year old Jodi Jones that his case will be reviewed. The communication from the SCCRC did not indicate any dates but this usually takes at least six months and in a case that has achieved such notoriety it is likely to take longer.

For those unfamiliar with this case:
Jodi Jones put up a great struggle yet her boyfriend, Luke Mitchell, had no scratches and was shown to be calm and normal when interacting with his friends about twenty minutes after the alleged time of the murder. Three men whose dna was found on, in or near the corpse were never arrested or considered suspects; Luke Mitchell whose dna was not found at the scene was convicted of murder. Two of the three men concealed themselves and altered their appearance soon after the murder. The sister of the deceased victim later married the man whose semen was on Jodi's shirt and bra. A third man stated that he had deposited his semen in a condom found near the corpse while he was alone in the woods with no one nearby. He stated that he did not see the naked corpse at his feet and he claimed that this event took place at a time when local reports indicate it was raining heavily. Despite his semen being found near the corpse of a 14 year old girl, he was not arrested or charged with her murder as the Lothian and Borders Constabulary apparently believed his statement about his using a condom despite there being no one else present at the time.

Champagne aged 230 years !!

Diving instructor Christian Ekstrom said the bottles are believed to be from the 1780s and likely were part of a cargo destined for Russia. The nationality of the sunken ship has not yet been determined.

Wow. That is some find for those Swedish divers.

I might prefer some Kubler Absinthe but a 230 year old champagne will do nicely also.

RCMP Homicide 101 Difficulties.

Well now, you find a luxury mobile home burned in the remote woods. You don't find the 78 year old law-abiding owners anywhere nearby. You don't find them at their real home but that doesn't alarm you enough to even talk to the neighbors who were aware of their travel route and schedule. You fail to make any inquiries concerning the missing tow-car that was normally at the rear bumper of the mobile home despite having all the registration information. And when five days later you issue a plea to the public for information: you fail to mention the missing car and only mention the expensive mobile home in the flyer despite your knowledge that it was already a burned-out hulk in the remote forest.

RCMP? I think the Mounties trusty sled-dogs could have done a better job on this case than those horsemen did!

Oregonian Events: Kyron Hormon

Oregonian Events: Kyron Hormon and Humphrey Bogart.

It seems that Step-Mom Hormon will soon be forced out of the family home and into the maw of the predatory Papparazzi. I don't know what the female population of Portland, Oregon is or what percentage of them do indeed send some sexually suggestive emails from time to time to men who are not their husbands. Whatever the number is, I know of absolutely no correlation between the sending of a sexually suggestive email by a bored housewife and the subsequent murder of her son. I daresay the number of unfaithful wives is rather very much higher than the number of murdered sons.

Its the same old Lynch Mob mentality: the cops are trying to put her in prison and she is not helping them to do it, therefore she must clearly be guilty.

Would the marriage have lasted without police pressures? I don't know or much care, but I wonder why the cops have to always find the weak and vulnerable targets?

Luke Mitchell ... Absurdities in the Press

Well, the anniversary of Jodi's murder has passed. The various placement and prompt removal of Sunflowers have taken place. Now the press has come up with an article about Luke Mitchell having sought grief counseling while in prison. We don't know for sure what the reliability of the article is but since they got the name of the prison wrong its likely that whoever they were talking to did not know anything at all about Luke Mitchell or his prison routine.

We now also have a newspaper article dealing with a hand written statement said to have been penned by Luke Mitchell and posted on his cell wall. The statement is roughly based on a popular Psalm. Once again, absolutely no verification that such a statement actually exists much less is posted on his cell wall.

It gets so tiresome to see journalism ethics and competence fall so low.