http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=439820&in_page_id=1770 And imagine someone hacking this.
Everyday pilots are becoming computer systems operators more and more everyday. In advanced aircraft, pilots are really only piloting the plane on takeoffs and landings. Take a look at a Gulfstream (corporate jet) cockpit.
Riddle me this: With all that technology they still can't figure out how to keep the plane air conditioned on the ground, keep the exhaust fumes out of the cabin while taxiing, nor keep the relative humidity higher than 3.3% in flight???
Well...let me see.... People have hacked some of the most secure systems known to date. It seems like every day we hear about yet another encryption system being broken (no tears for the RIAA or MPAA). So what we are really doing is making it possible for terrorist techno-geniuses to fly their suicide missions without actually having to be ON the plane (once they crack the system). Either that, or some 11-year old wiz kid who figures it out and then tries to land a 747 on his "simulator"...complete with realistic fireballs, explosions, and human carnage when the thing splatters across the field. I see the thinking behind this...but I fear it is a double-edged sword as well.
I think tim is talking about less serious technological applications than terrorist techno-warfare. I mean, to get a normal conditioning system in a plane would be wonderful, and will the terrorists do with it? Turn it on and off to piss off the flight attendents