As the term implies, fly by wire (FBW) replaces conventional mechanical flight controls with an electronic interface. The pilot's movements of the flight controls are converted to electrical signals, which are interpreted by the flight control computers.
Fly-by-wire control systems allow aircraft computers to perform tasks without pilot input. ...
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Good question. But I don’t know as it’s been 30 years since I left GD. The controls are electronic with digital motors moving the surfaces but don’t know if they have designed remote ability that could be taken over through a hack. Would not suprise me.
Don’t have to have planes, only the GPS Satellites the plane is using to update INS system. Don’t have to miss by much to hit terra firma unexpectedly. Especially if the aircraft is in the weather.
My impression from decades of computer use is that anything with a programmable computer can be hacked into with sufficient smarts, time, access.
https://www.quora.com/Can-fly-by-wire-planes-be-flown-manually-in-the-event-of-a-system-failure
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_232
If it is computer can probably hacked given determination.
But as link above shows does not need to be hack- cascade event can take down an aircraft.
Notably in section on influence on Industry, this situation is programmed into fly by wire- irony is that if plane experienced same situation no guarantee that computer would be available.