May 29, 2007: Last month, a Swedish Gripen fighter
crashed when the pilot suddenly ejected. The pilot insisted that he had not
activated the ejection system. After intense investigation, and lots of
computer simulation of flight systems, investigators concluded that the pilots
account of events was accurate. Turns out that if enough g-force is applied to
the aircraft, the pilot ejection system automatically activates. This leaves the
aircraft without a pilot, right after it has performed a stressful maneuver (to
produce the high g-force.)
This sort of thing is increasingly common with
modern weapons systems. That because these systems are increasingly more
complex systems of systems, where it has become impossible to forecast all of
the possible unpleasant, and unwanted, events that could occur under certain
situations.
