This morning, a Lancair and a Cessna 172 collided midair over Marana Regional Airport in Arizona, an uncontrolled field with no traffic tower. At least two dead, maybe more. The NTSB’s digging in—human error or signal failure’s the early bet. But what if it’s neither? What if a tiny microchip, smaller than a pencil tip, buried in the planes’ tech, threw everything off?
A few years ago, I wrote about microchips sneaking into computer motherboards—think the 2018 “Big Hack” story, where whispers of espionage via Chinese-made hardware rattled the tech world. No proof stuck, but the concept lingered: a supply chain so vast, a flaw so small, could slip through. Now, zoom to 2025. Trump’s tariffs are back, hammering tech imports—25% on $50 billion in goods, escalating fast. Could that pressure flip a switch on something already planted, turning silent espionage into chaos?
Here’s the theory: modern planes—like today’s Lancair or Cessna—run on avionics packed with circuit boards. Navigation, radios, engine controls—all potentially sourced globally, often unchecked. A microchip tweak could garble GPS, fudge altitudes, or mute comms. Two planes, no tower, bad data—crash. The U.S. flagged supply chain risks before—2019 GAO reports cited fake aerospace parts. A tampered chip isn’t sci-fi; it’s possible.
Why now? Tariffs sting. They’ve slashed exports, and rattled economies. A subtle jab—disrupting U.S. skies—could fray trust in the “buy American” push. Imagine the fallout: “Tariffs didn’t save us; they provoked this.” Marana’s small scale doesn’t rule it out—signal interference fits an uncontrolled field perfectly. Past crashes like MH370 or China Eastern 5735 linger unexplained—coincidence, or a hint?
This isn’t about pointing fingers—proof’s nowhere near. Aviation’s redundancies (dual systems, rigorous tests) make it a tough nut to crack. A chip would need surgical precision to hide and strike. But the “what if” holds water. Supply chains are messy, tariffs are loud, and tech’s more embedded than ever. Today’s crash might just be pilots and chance—or it might nudge us to ask: could something tiny be waiting to act? The black boxes might whisper the answer.
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