Page 6 - Data Stream News Today

Controller could have landed the aircraft. >> reporter: right now, auto pilot systems are manually switched on and off at the discretion of the pilots in the air. auto pilot cannot land or takeoff. this potential solution could present a new problem. >> this is not necessarily hack proof. >> not hack proof. terrorists may be able to get into the data stream and force the plane to land or do whatever. >> reporter: has boeing advanced the idea from ten years ago? is the company still testing it ou...

Hijacked or if a member of the crew purposely did something to alter the path, would this have saved that plane? >> if in fact they determined that it was a problem, and they tried to get in touch with the pilot and the co-pilot, and they couldnt, then if that system were 34 place, it seems as though, the ground controller could then have landed this aircraft. >> reporter: right now, autopilot systems are manually switches on and off only at the discretion of pilots in the are air. an autopilot ...

Have saved that plane. >> if they determined this was a problem and they tried to get in touch with the pilot and co-pilot and they couldnt, then if that system were in place, it seems as though the ground controller could then have landed this aircraft. >> reporter: right now autopilot systems are manually switched is on and off only at the discretion of the pilots in the air. autopilot cannot land or take off. it could present a new problem. this system wouldnt be hack proof. >> this wouldnt b...

Will come out of this. trying to get into the datastream or the partial data stream thats been available, i think that will reveal something definitive over the next coming days. >> im glad you brought up data stream and definitive. the plane sent out partial information only by accident, these handshakes. what could change and crucially how quickly in the way that planes send out information to prevent something like this happening again? >> i likely look at the improvements and the ntsb makes ...

And cnn money correspondent, and she said that it is 1.1% cost of the plane, and so is cost the issue? >> well, it is not the total issue, but it is not an insignificant. an example. it is not the cost of the $100,000, and why do i know that? because they are putting the satellite dishes on the roofs of planes for wi-fi and internet connectivity, and they cost $1 million to install on each aircraft, and if you are a major u.s. carrier, and you have 700 or 800 planes, that is a sizable cost. and ...

Communications system was also cut. now, how hard would that have been to do this? >> well, theres two communications systems that are involved here. one is a transponder, and that feeds data down to civilian radar. it ceased to function. that may be because of a loss of electricity. the component itself may have failed or it may have been switched off. but of greater interest is a data system known as acars. and this links certain parameters for engine monitoring and other functions, but it was...

Aviation expert as well joining us from tampa. is it conceivable there were no other satellites over that southern region and no way to triangleate? >> i think the thing to realize, the acars system is looking for a specific network, like a cellular phone network. it is sending out that its available for data to upload or download, except -- and this is probably one of the most important bits of evidence we have right now, is that the data stream to the acars unit had been shut off. that require...

Parts of pakistan. >> if there was a catastrophic event, seasoned investigators say they would expect all the data stream to go dark virtually simultaneously and that did not happen here. >> you have the pilots, you have the crew. with someone from the passenger list, did they get access to that cockpit? >> what cargo was on board this aircraft. my theories are hijack sabotage or mechanical failure. sabotage comes from within the crew. someone in the crew whether they psychological problem or bl...

Were pings coming from that location. now assuming that, i find it extremely difficult to think that somehow the system failed, that 777 is the most reliable aircraft in the air in my opinion. and to think that that whole system, the three buses that we have, the three generators, the backup generator which can be driven by air, that can power those avionics and those communication channels as well. so i believe that it was taken off by intent, that that aircraft was intentfully disabled from co...

It makes sense to me that the pings are still occurring for one reason. if youre going to -- the average pilot would know how to disconnect all the communications equipment on that airplane except for one thing and thats the acars system. because theres a circuit breaker. when you pull the circuit breaker that says acars on it, it doesnt turn off the transmitter. its like not turning off the wi-fi but turning off the computer. it stops the data stream from coming. it stops the computer which sto...