PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - AF66 CDG-LAX diverts - uncontained engine failure over Atlantic
Old 17th Nov 2017, 18:07
  #490 (permalink)  
tdracer
 
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Originally Posted by pax2908
Would EA have had the opportunity to change things (in the engine control, FADEC or whatever it is called on this engine) to redefine when engine is shut down e.g. with increased vibration ... assuming existing data supports such a modification ?
If that happened (change of firmware/software as a result of the accident), who would know?

Designers (and regulators) are very leery of systems that can automatically and unilaterally shut down an engine in-flight. That's because, no matter how much testing you do, you can never completely rule out a 'false positive'. Worse, since it's in software, the conditions that result in a false positive could easily exist on multiple engines at the same time (say, for example, a lightning strike transient that fools the detection logic). Having all your engines suddenly shut down automatically in flight generally results in a really bad day.
So, flight deck warning that instructs the pilot to shut it down - yes, auto-shutdown, no...
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