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>Could a pilot do this completely on his own? Turn off the communication system, fly 4 hours into a different direction and then nosedive into the ocean? Yes.

>Could a pilot do this completely on his own? Turn off the communication system, fly 4 hours into a different direction and then nosedive into the ocean? Yes. Egypt Air is an example of a pilot committing suicide, before doing so he pulled the circuit breakers for most systems including some for the flight data recorders (black boxes). For safety reasons a pilot needs to be able to quickly isolate any system (even ones that are 'vital'). If the pilot wishes to kill everyone, he will, there is no point trying to design against that. However as the vast majority of pilots are frequently making changes to the automated systems idea of the world for the better of the plane. At the moment on many forums there are a lot of comments from people saying we need to clip the wings, so to speak, of pilots, limit what they can do. These people have never sat on the left.

dictum 13y ago
> For safety reasons a pilot needs to be able to quickly isolate any system (even ones that are 'vital'). If the pilot wishes to kill everyone, he will This seems like really good news for would-be plane hijackers.
- devnonymous 13y ago
  It really isn't a state secret you know. Also, I'd put potential hijackers in the 0.1 or lower percentile of HN readership population. ;-)
- glesica 13y ago
  Because taking control of a 60 meter long hunk of aluminum hurtling through the air at 400 mph wasn't already good news? From what I can see it means absolutely nothing to would-be hijackers.
  - dictum 13y ago
    Maybe "hijacker" isn't the right term. I'd just never stopped to think how a pirate, or anyone interested in stealing a plane for whatever reason, could take control of a plane and force the pilot to disable all systems and nobody would ever find the plane again.