From Wired (via SixColors):

Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets, as well as Airbus A350 and A380 aircraft, have Wi-Fi passenger networks that use the same network as the avionics systems of the planes...

Whoever made that decision should be fired. And if that person can't be identified -- heck, even if they can -- the manager should be sacked. And their manager as well. Idiotic. What's the price to set up two independent networks, honestly? And what percentage of the total price of the plane is that?

I mean, you have got to be kidding me. I saw the piece on 60 Minutes when they supposedly hacked a car remotely, which, honestly, even if the folks interviewed stretched the truth a little, I can still believe. That is, I don't expect across the board brilliance on cars. At times, I'm surprised they work at all.

But planes? Aren't we a little less worried about bleeding edge and more worried about safety? Maybe we should all fly around in A-10s, since they have "manual reversion mode", where you can fly without any hydraulics, much less networking, if it all goes to heck.

Honestly, as a programmer who always says if you don't have three copies of any digital artifact in three different places, you don't have a file at all, I'm surprised every plane isn't made like an A-10.

This is why I try not to fly.

Labels: ,