Air traffic controller helps get pilot safely down -- via text messaging

[thewayne]

A small twin-engine lost all internal power, including avionics, shortly after take-off. Radio was dead. They called the tower on a cell phone, but lost audio. The controller started sending them text messages and the plane landed safely.

Truth stranger than fiction? How long before a surgeon performs a remote appendectomy via SMS?

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/0807/1218047756406.html

Comments

[deborak]

Neat! Hopefully I won't need to land any planes ever -- because we had Verizon completely turn off our text messaging due to spam. :/

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

Wow. I've heard spam was pretty bad, in fact a Canadian cell provider started charging for messages received, they've been lampooning it over at User Friendly (.org) last week.

I have never sent a text message, but occasionally receive them from my sister or friends. I don't reply, I call them, the way that god intended cell phones to be used. :-)

[silveradept]

Remote appendectomy is probably possible now, but it's definitely telerobotics, if you can. Still, one doc to the other over SMS could be interesting. I think, though, the instructions would have to be frontloaded.