Text Messages Being Sought By Train Wreck Investigators

Federal investigators say they are seeking the cell phone records of two teenagers and the deceased engineer of a commuter train involved in a collision with a freight train on Friday. The accident has left 25 dead and more than 130 passengers injured. The teens, who are train enthusiasts, came forward to say that they had been texting the engineer prior to the collision. "We have been in contact with them and their families. They have been fully cooperative," Kitty Higgins of the National Transportation Safety Board told reporters. "We are going to be obtaining records from their cell phones and of the deceased ... to begin to determine what might have happened and what if any role [cell phones] might have played in this accident." No cell phone was found on or near the dead engineer. CNN Story here.

Air Traffic Controller Uses SMS To Guide Crippled Plane's Pilot

A quick-thinking air traffic controller from Cork, Ireland guided the pilot of a twin-engined Piper that had lost all onboard electrical power, communications and weather radar to a safe landing using only text messages. The pilot of the troubled craft attempted to use his cellphone repeatedly to raise contact with Kerry airport, where he had left, and when unsuccessful he made brief voice contact with air traffic control at Cork. When voice contact was lost the air traffic controller sent text messages to the pilot informing him that he had a radar signal on the aircraft and that Cork would allow them to land. "In this incident the positive and proactive initiative of the ATC controller, who, on realising that mobile audio communication from the pilot was intermittent, quickly switched to texting his instructions instead," said air accident investigator John Hughes. I hope this guy gets a raise! Well done...

Irishtimes.com

Robotic gun emplacement goes wild, kills 9 injures 14

Wired is reporting that a South African military exercise involving a robotic Oerlikon 35mm Twin Field Air Defence Gun - Type GDF-005, went horribly wrong earlier this month killing 9 soldiers and seriously injuring 14 more. The automated dual gun cannon is designed to use passive and active radar, as well as laser range finders, to lock on to high speed, low flying aircraft and cruise missiles. The South African National Defence Force is investigating the possibility that a software glitch may have caused the malfunction. The gun has the ability to reload itself and apparently only stopped firing when it had expended all of the available rounds. So much for the 3 laws!