BlueLightning

Thankfully, Delta and most other major airlines have far fewer plane crashes than Windows has crashes.  

Maybe the FAA should be given authority to test and set requirements and procedures for all computer systems that are used by airlines.  This is not the wild 1930s.  It is high time that minimum standards for passenger scheduling, crew scheduling and flight scheduling are set.  There is a reason Windows is rarely if ever used for critical functions on spacecraft or weapons systems.  

Not sure this was a good idea.  If that is REALLY used motor oil, those who change oil are supposed to use protective gloves, due to break-down chemicals that may be carcinogenic.  Hollywood does use fake blood and other materials, so maybe this was not REAL used motor oil.  Maybe it was black liquid ink?  Crude oil, before refining, also contains carcinogens, like benzene.  

Good project.  Sounds similar to folks who have rebuilt old cars with many parts difficult to source and many only available in "well worn" condition.  Many plastic parts can probably be 3D printed, but may not have identical fit and finish.  Bet that getting vacuum tubes for 80+ year old car radios is time consuming at best, but suspect China would be a good source (China is making audiophile level tubes).  

M68K chips are still manufactured, apparently by NXP (and maybe others).  Back in 1984, I had an interview for embedded controller programming.  They were using Ziliog Z80 chips, because Z80s were dirt cheap ($1-3, at the time, I think).  Z80s look like they were discontinued about a month ago, but had many manufacturers at one point.  Would not bet money on no one still manufacturing Z80s.  In many applications, being the cheapest option is often more important than being the fastest.  Digikey was apparently still using (or maybe just selling) Z80s recently.  
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/04/after-48-years-zilog-is-killing-the-classic-standalone-z80-microprocessor-chip/  

Root cause of blue screen of death was a logic error (per software vendor)  When an application program or utility is able to produce an error that causes the OS to abnormally end, that means that the OS is not properly protected from that error.  The OS *should* respond with an error code and refuse to execute the instruction.  I worked with both minicomputer and BSD Unix systems (and others) that did not crash the OS in many years.  The last time I remember one of these crashing was around 1986.  The requesting program should be returned an error code and/or be cancelled by the OS.  Microsoft should patch the OS to create a more resilient product.  Thank God most aircraft, spacecraft and weapons don't run Windows.    The B-1 Bomber and Space Shuttle were designed with System/4s, others mainly use defense specific designs.  

Terms of use for many OSs indicate they are not to be used for life-critical functions.  Many applications and operating systems limit their liability to whatever you paid for the application or OS.  You accept those terms by using the product.  

Surprised something like this would get past testing (assuming testing was done).  

A number of books have been written on the anticipated failure of complex systems, sometimes looking at telecommunications or power delivery.