Sorry, we can't take off-- my iPad is down

[3WE]

Not sure if maybe this merits its own thread, but it's not just software on tablets that can cause problems: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/05...es_generators/

"What's it doing now?"

"Nothing!"

That's creepy...

...and it exemplifies the classic concerns:

-The computer essentially has primary control with out the ability for the human to adequately intercede if there is some sort of computer crash.

-Zillions of lines of outstanding, stable, well-thought-out computer code and processes...but of those zillions of lines of coding, someone missed a small potential glitch (which is why computer stuff continues to crash from time to time)

Yes, conversely, purely mechanical systems break too.

Edit: The ironing here is pretty good too...here we have a hard core FBW aircraft- in definite need of some alextrisity to operate...and it's history has been to burn up batteries and have total-auto-surprise-linked-shutdown generators.