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In 2008, a menacing solar storm injured many passengers in a plane. It could have easily killed them all in a Qantas airliner.
The popular notion around solar storm is that it is dangerous for electronic devices, satellites, wireless communication systems like Internet and radio waves, but it does not pose a threat to humans. This essentially means that during a solar storm, the radiation reaching a human is not powerful enough to burn their skin or kill them. However, this absolutely does not mean a solar storm cannot kill us indirectly. With our reliance on technology, solar storms can affect us in ways previously unimaginable. Take the example of this 2008 solar storm event which almost killed the 303 passengers and 10 crew members aboard a Qantas plane. Sounds unbelievable? Read on.
Solar storm injures passengers aboard Qantas airliner
According to a BBC report, a strange event happened in 2008. A Qantas airliner called Flight 72 was flying over Western Australia. However, mid flight, the airplane dropped about 300 feet all of a sudden. The drop was a nose-dive meaning the people inside the airbus were disbalanced, fell out of their seats and hit objects left and right at a high speed. Many were injured and had broken their bones. “One child who was wearing a seatbelt was jolted so badly that they suffered injuries to their abdomen,” reported BBC. Thankfully, shortly after the airliner dropped, the pilot was able to control the and stabilize it, avoiding a potential crash.
An investigation by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau was started to find out the reason behind the pilot losing control of the flight. After eliminating issues such as the sobriety of the pilots and following of the procedure leading to the take-off, the investigation focused on the internal system of the flight. It was found out that “prior to the erratic behavior of the plane, erroneous computer data in the on-board systems had misrepresented the angle at which the aircraft was flying. This prompted the two automated nose-dives,” claim the report.
The investigation report finally concluded, “there was insufficient evidence available to determine whether [an ionising particle altering computer data] could have triggered the failure mode”. In simple words, the report stated that while there was a possibility that a solar storm could have corrupted the computer data of the plane, there was not enough evidence to say so conclusively. At the same time, the report admitted that any other alternative was entirely unlikely. So, a solar storm can kill humans, albeit in an indirect way through a tech outage or corrupt data.
Because of the understanding of solar storms, we know that it can definitely mess up electronic devices including computers on a flight.
Most notably of all, this is why today, flights are always delayed during a solar storm event.
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