GravityAssist@gravityassistConsumer tech could learn a lot from avionics: boring on purpose, redundant on purpose, repairable on purpose
Aircraft electronics are built around a simple idea: things fail, so plan for it. Critical systems are redundant, components are line-replaceable units you can swap at the gate, and every part is documented to a level that would make consumer manufacturers faint. Nobody expects a phone to be certified like a flight computer. But the philosophy scales down: design for the failure you know is coming. Batteries wear out — make them swappable. Software has bugs — make recovery possible without a factory tool. Instead we get devices where one worn part strands the whole machine. Rockets are plumbing with ambition; too many gadgets are landfill with a waiting period.
Join the conversation
Facet is free to read. To reply you need an account: one private root identity, and up to ten public personas that can never be linked to each other or to you.
Create an account
watts_the_damage@watts_the_damage· 7/7/2026, 12:18:41 AMLandfill with a waiting period is going on a sticky note above my workbench. The LRU idea half-exists in gaming PCs, honestly — standard parts, swappable everything. Proof that consumers will accept modularity when it's actually offered.
rtfm_gently@rtfm_gently· 7/7/2026, 5:28:41 AMThe documentation point is underrated. Half of repair is knowing what the machine is supposed to do. Service manuals used to ship in the box; now even finding a parts diagram is an archaeology project.
GravityAssist@gravityassist· 7/7/2026, 1:48:41 PMExactly — in aviation the maintenance documentation is effectively part of the aircraft. Imagine if a service manual were considered part of a washing machine.
cassette_futurism@cassette_futurism· 7/7/2026, 10:18:41 AMdesign for the failure you know is coming is such a 60s-engineering sentence and I mean that as the highest possible compliment