In 1993, the Federal Government mandated that wind shear detection and warning systems be installed on all aircraft by January 1, 1994. Yet a record seven hundred and ninety three people died in wind shear related airplane crashes in 1994. The FAA tried to explain away the wrecks by blaming faulty aircraft components. For example, a thirty-seven cent screw in a rudder actuator was blamed for the crash of a Boeing 737 near Pittsburgh on September 8th, 1994. As recounted in The Pattern, a handful of computer geeks knew the explanations were wrong, and that a video game that relied on polymorphic code was to blame. Exactly seven hundred and ninety three people also died in thirty one separate crashes north of the 49th parallel between January 20, 2008 and September 28, 2008. The notable list of victims of this cluster of crashes is remarkable. Among those who perished were Alaska Senator Ted Stephens, a former director of NASA, the CEO of a large defense contractor, the President of Poland, the director of Poland's national bank, and the MVP of the premiere Russian hockey league. The list of near victims, who are classified as people who travelled on planes that crashed within two days of having been flown by the near victims is even more remarkable, including Prince William and Kate Middleton, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister of Canada, David Johnston, the Governor General of Canada, Andre Medvedev, President of Russia, and Bill Oefelein, former space shuttle pilot. Most of the wrecks were explained to the public by bad weather, pilot error, or faulty maintenance. Once again, a surviving subset of that same handful of west coast computer geeks know that these explanations are dead wrong.
About the Author: JT Kalnay is an attorney and an author. He has been an athlete, a soldier, a professor, a programmer, an Ironman, and mountain climber. JT now divides his time between being an attorney, being an author, and helping his wife chase after seven nieces and nephews. JT was born and raised in Belleville, Ontario, Canada. Growing up literally steps from the Bay of Quinte, water, ice, fishing, swimming, boating, and drowning were very early influences and appear frequently in his work. Educated at the Royal Military College, the University of Ottawa, the University of Dayton, and Case Western Reserve University, JT has spent countless hours studying a wide range of subjects including math, English, computer science, physics, and law. Many of his stories are set on college campuses. JT is a rock climber and can often be found atop crags in West Virginia, Kentucky, Colorado, California, Nevada, Mexico, New Mexico, and Italy. Rock climbing appears frequently in his writing. JT has witnessed firsthand many traumatic events including the World Trade Center Bombing, the Long Island Railroad Shooting, a bear attack, a plane crash, and numerous fatalities, in the mountains and elsewhere. JT started Cross Fitting in 2008, and thus high intensity interval training now appears frequently in his recent works. Disasters, loss, confronting personal fear, and thinking about the mystery of what comes after this life are common themes in his writing.