AI6YR Ben

This is great!

Flightaware: Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Aviation

https://flightaware.engineering/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-aviation/

#aviation #software

Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Aviation

There are a lot of assumptions one could make when designing data types and schemas for aviation data that turn out to be inaccurate. In the spirit of Patrick McKenzie’s classic piece on names, here are some false assumptions one might make about aviation.

Angle of Attack
Jun 6 at 10:57pmWeb
Show threadJustin RibeiroJun 7
@ai6yr having written my fair of aviation and areo software over the decades, that list makes me laugh and cry all at the same time. 🤣
Show threadThomas SturmJun 7

@justin @ai6yr Yes, this list brought back many memories from work I did two decades ago for Delta.

We built a flight schedule lookup system for their website and the core requirements had been UI-driven, but nobody had bothered to figure out the data requirements... we stepped into every single bear trap and stumbled over every rake on the lawn all through the project. 😅

Show threadSarah E BourneJun 7
@ai6yr Trying to tell the spouse about this and he goes off on a rant (again! ? !) about UK postal codes…
Show threadAI6YR BenJun 7
@sbourne LOL
Show threadMike SpoonerJun 7
@sbourne @ai6yr including that they apply to some non-UK areas too.
Show threadPetty ThanosJun 7
@ai6yr This is AMAZING. The perfect examples to use when anyone says “we can just…” in a programming or technical context.
Show threadCarsten FrankeJun 7
@ai6yr this might be why a German friend accidentally booked a flight to YQY instead of SYD...
Show threadAI6YR BenJun 7
@carstenfranke Ooops
Show threadPhil Tanner Jun 7
@ai6yr I'm amazed they didn't have "A flight will never arrive before it departs" around timezone weirdness
Show threadJulien GoodwinJun 7
@Phil_Tanner @ai6yr that one's common enough that you'd run in to it very quickly, due to DST change would be another fun one as is taking off before it boarded, or turnaround in negative time (kinda possible in OOL if you count from landing)
Show threadBen BurwellJun 8

@Phil_Tanner @ai6yr we do everything in UTC and localize according to user preferences, so time zones don’t affect our data model too much.

One related thing that we do sometimes run into is ensuring updated “OOOI” times (out, off, on, in) are consistent when we get updates from different sources (airlines, FAA, ACARS, etc).

Show threadFrank QuednauJun 7
@ai6yr I love such lists - nice my nearest airport made it to the list as an example of a bad-behaving airport (multiple IATA codes) :)
Show threadFabian B - Fabi's Flying FotosJun 7
@flq @ai6yr
Basel? Brussels?
Show threadFrank QuednauJun 8
@Fabis_flying_fotos BSL indeed!
Show threadWilfried KlaebeJun 7
@ai6yr Reminds me a lot of https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-names/
Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Names | Kalzumeus Software

Classic essay about how software routinely bumbles human names.

Show threadAI6YR BenJun 7
@wonka LOL this is great, also bookmarked!
Show threadepicdemiologistJun 7
@ai6yr "Flights don’t have multiple flight numbers" -- I've run into this in person, when the flight my friend was on changed flight numbers IN THE AIR while I was on the way to the airport to pick her up.
Show threadBen BurwellJun 9
@epicdemiologist @ai6yr I’ve seen a few people mention flight numbers changing during flight but I don’t recall ever seeing it myself… can you tell me more?
Show threadepicdemiologist6d ago
@benburwell @ai6yr All I know is, I got to the airport and went to the gate she was supposed to land at, and there was no such flight number. Eventually someone at an info desk told me the flight number was now [whatever], it was at gate [whatever]. My friend, IIRC, told me there had been an announcement during the flight that the number had been changed. This was back in the '90s at ATL.
Show threadjomoJun 7

@ai6yr the "waypoint names are unique" point misses a link to this story:

https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/06/airline_software_bugs/

Scared of flying? Good news! Software glitches keep aircraft on the ground

NATS explains last week's UK chaos as bug delays 211 United Airlines flights

The Register
Show threadAI6YR BenJun 7
@jomo Wow, that stopped the entire airspace?!?!? Amazing.
Show threadMarcel WaldvogelJun 7

@ai6yr
Excellent! And it also reminded me (in my face) of the great article on "Falsehoods Programmers Believe About [person's] Names".

https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-names/

Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Names | Kalzumeus Software

Classic essay about how software routinely bumbles human names.

Show threadAI6YR BenJun 7
@marcel Hahahaha, bookmarking this one too
Show threadEdge 🇨🇦🇲🇽🇺🇦🏳️‍🌈Jun 7

@marcel @ai6yr

That's excellent.

I have a hyphenated last name and it is guaranteed to either break any system it is entered into, broken into one of 2 halves, or smooshed together so that people look at it, frown, and then call me by my first name.

Show threadBeardlyDavid Jun 7
@ai6yr I've worked in the Air Traffic Services for 20 years and this made me laugh out loud. Aviation is a beautiful and weird and dangerous business that defies rigid definitions.
Show threadBill, organizer of stuffJun 7
@ai6yr Echoes of a few decades of building data models with people who only think they understand their business...
Show threaddon_nordlundoJun 7
@ai6yr I'm a programmer, student pilot, and former ramp rat with a major Canadian airline, and I believed some of these.
Show threadChris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸Jun 7
@ai6yr omg. This list is hilarious and daunting
Show threadJohn Francis 🦫🇨🇦🍁💪⬆️Jun 7
@ai6yr Constantinople airport is now Istanbul airport
Show threadAI6YR BenJun 7
@johnefrancis <queue up They Might Be Giants>
Show threadJonathan Reiter (张飞)Jun 7

@ai6yr

I'm not the right person to write it, but a post that extends this with airline/MRO supply, flight bag, flight conditions, and aircraft cycle data would be extremely hair raising

An example data element: "we know that the airplane part, if damaged or missing, is sufficiently critical to ground a plane"

"we know which parts this other part replaces or articulates with. We know which airplane models this part is specified for, which ones it actually is in, and when we expect to have a new drawing or public release for the replacement for this part."

"we know that the plane's test conditions were satisfactory to sign it off for FAA airworthiness" aw fuck this made me scared again

Most impressively of all: "We know where planes are on the manufacturing line"

Show threadTim ChaseJun 7

@ai6yr

Hah, was just sparring yesterday with the user-facing aspects of some of these where our son flew home on a particular flight-number, but that same flight-number applied to both the going-and-coming legs (DFW→GSP and the return GSP→DFW) flights. So attempting to look up the flight-number showed two different departure/arrival times. I'm glad FlightAware managed to handle it without issue.

But ohmygoodness, reading though those, I could feel developers' pain with every bullet-point, knowing that some dev was facepalming at the broken assumptions.

Thanks for sharing!

Show threadStephen HoffmanJun 7
@ai6yr FlightRadar showed an overflight by a luggage truck on one recent viewing, airport equipment icon and all.
Show threadAI6YR BenJun 7
@HoffmanLabs LOL funny
Show threadInoruJun 7
@ai6yr knowing just enough about all the bits involved herein to laugh outright at a few of those. 😂😂😂
Show threadJeff GriggJun 7

@ai6yr

I should probably do something similar for train schedules.

Like, you'd *THINK* that time can only "move" in a "forward" direction. 🙄 No one would claim that it'll be delivered to your business hours before it arrives in your city. 🙄

And, *AS IF* anyone in the train business, the business that *literally invented time zones*, has *the foggiest clue* about "Daylight Saving Time." 🙄

Show threadJudithJun 8
@ai6yr @sueW