While that sounds funny, in reality a plane can never drop like a piece of rock just because some silicon failed !! OK if part of a wing tore away or some such structural damage happened, yes then the plane becomes unstable, looses control and plummets to crash. If I am not mistaken, an aircraft is designed such that even with all its engines OFF, it still can glide down and be safe if it can come down on a plain land or sea..

If the above paragraph gives you an impression that I am associated with flight safety mechanisms - I am not! Just that of late I have been reading some forum postings and Science news on Air turbulence, after an abnormally turbulent flight which never seemed to end. At the end when it landed ( thankfully ) most of us had either coffee or tea or ketchup on us.

If you are one of those with a fear of flight, just search for the keywords " air turbulence" and " fear of flight" . You will be amazed at the sites and forums that come up.

Raghu