If you aren’t a fan of flying prior to reading this article, I don’t think you’re confidence in aviation safety is going to be at all boosted afterwards, but it is a fantastic and interesting read. Of particular note is the last line of the article which reads;
“For several years now, Airbus has offered its customers a special safety program - called “Buss” — at a cost of €300,000 per aircraft. If the airspeed indicator fails, this software shows pilots the angle at which they must point the plane. Up to now, Air France has chosen not to invest in this optional extra for its fleet.”
I realize the significance of that piece of information may not hold much weight for you if you have not yet read the article, but it should. Essentially it means that for the additional cost of around 400,000 American dollars, Airbus, the manufacturer of thousands of the commercial aircraft flown worldwide each day, offers a “hotfix” of sorts for a known “bug” in which a plane’s airspeed indicator freezes up and severely affects a pilots ability to navigate the plane. The airlines, in this case Air France, literally have to choose as to whether or not the avoidance of a potential catastrophe is worth the money. This life saving feature is an up-sell. It’s not included in the base model. It’s like opting to fork up the cash to have heated seats in your Accord. Except in this scenario choosing not to have heated seats might result in the loss of 228 lives, as it did for Flight 447.
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