QUOTE (Alan Stern)
Since a bad word in C&DH memory could invoke an unpredictable spacecraft action, C&DH is programmed to command itself to reboot (and thus restore memory from a boot PROM) whenever such an double-bit error is detected. But whenever C&DH resets, our onboard autonomous fault-detection and -protection system declares an emergency and commands the spacecraft to suspend all current activities and go to a "Safe Mode."
That sounds like my mother's behavior whenever she hears a bad word.
Is it a coincidence that this occurred while New Horizons was surfing in Pluto's magnetosphere? Has the single bit error count been up since the Jupiter boost? Perhaps Jupiter is a little peeved about the theft of gravitational energy...
...but I wouldn't be a bit surprised if this was some sort of radiation or cosmic ray event (the latter more likely).
