> I've read that mobile phones are actually more complicated than commercial 
> jumbo jet airplanes. I don't know how that's measured, mind, but I'd be 
> willing to believe it. One rarely has to manage changing speed-of-light 
> calculations when driving a car or a plane.

Don't believe it!

Just think of all the navigation and control systems in a plane (both 
hardware and software), plus the fact that there needs to be 4-way 
redundancy and everything must be designed to work for 30 years rather than 
3 years.  Surely all that has got to be more complex than a mobile phone?

And that's before you've even considered how complex a modern jet engine is, 
or the retractable landing gear, the control surfaces, the control systems 
to keep the plane stable, the auto-pilot etc.

I guess there's a reason why you can design a new phone from drawing board 
to mass production in 18 months, but a plane takes nearer 10 years.

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