4 ms·

Why would the airplane's critical systems be in any way connected to passenger WiFi? Or the Internet in any way?

com2kid 12y ago
787s have some really cool self monitoring abilities. Every part on them is wired up with every type of sensor you can imagine. This allows the plane to track its health at all times. The coolest feature we saw a demo of (I have no idea if it shipped!) was the plane radioing ahead to the airport it was headed to with a maintenance request form auto filled out! Personnel at the airport would be informed and have the relevant maintenance manuals automatically downloaded to their laptop. This actually removed a lot of down time for the plane, as typically workers would have to manually inspect many of these parts on a regular basis to check wear levels. Seriously cool stuff!
- x1798DE 12y ago
  What does that have to do with the public-facing wifi? I suppose if there's any radio connection and they have hard-coded credentials, the "public-facing" part of it doesn't really matter as much, but still, it's kinda basic stuff to airgap critical networks from the public.
  - kalleboo 12y ago
    That's the multi-million dollar question. I could theorize the cheapest way for the features com2kid is talking about to work is to use the commercial Internet connection for uploads. Then the device that connects needs an IP, and just happens to be running a telnet server for maintenance (it's always telnet) and nobody ever changes the default credentials. Now that device still has no actual control but it's connected to the airplane systems over a serial console. Which is also available to log in with the default credentials... Another comment here suggests he only gained access to the satellite systems which would suggest this is overblown.
    - com2kid 12y ago
      Unfortunately I have no recollection of how everything is wired together. (Not that I ever had complete understanding of it!) I know they consolidated some wiring, but I cannot say what was consolidated with what. I just remember the static routing table for security.
- swalsh 12y ago
  Do mechanics still schedule manual checks periodically? I'd be afraid of relying too much on automated systems.
  - com2kid 12y ago
    Yup! But the periodic inspections can happen less often on the 787, thus saving the airline a substantial amount of money! The inspections take an extended period of tine during which the plane isn't earning any money. By enabling those inspections to happen less often, the 787 reduces overall costs to the airline.

787s have some really cool self monitoring abilities. Every part on them is wired up with every type of sensor you can imagine. This allows the plane to track its health at all times. The coolest feature we saw a demo of (I have no idea if it shipped!) was the plane radioing ahead to the airport it was headed to with a maintenance request form auto filled out! Personnel at the airport would be informed and have the relevant maintenance manuals automatically downloaded to their laptop. This actually removed a lot of down time for the plane, as typically workers would have to manually inspect many of these parts on a regular basis to check wear levels. Seriously cool stuff!

x1798DE 12y ago
What does that have to do with the public-facing wifi? I suppose if there's any radio connection and they have hard-coded credentials, the "public-facing" part of it doesn't really matter as much, but still, it's kinda basic stuff to airgap critical networks from the public.
- kalleboo 12y ago
  That's the multi-million dollar question. I could theorize the cheapest way for the features com2kid is talking about to work is to use the commercial Internet connection for uploads. Then the device that connects needs an IP, and just happens to be running a telnet server for maintenance (it's always telnet) and nobody ever changes the default credentials. Now that device still has no actual control but it's connected to the airplane systems over a serial console. Which is also available to log in with the default credentials... Another comment here suggests he only gained access to the satellite systems which would suggest this is overblown.
  - com2kid 12y ago
    Unfortunately I have no recollection of how everything is wired together. (Not that I ever had complete understanding of it!) I know they consolidated some wiring, but I cannot say what was consolidated with what. I just remember the static routing table for security.
swalsh 12y ago
Do mechanics still schedule manual checks periodically? I'd be afraid of relying too much on automated systems.
- com2kid 12y ago
  Yup! But the periodic inspections can happen less often on the 787, thus saving the airline a substantial amount of money! The inspections take an extended period of tine during which the plane isn't earning any money. By enabling those inspections to happen less often, the 787 reduces overall costs to the airline.