[5by5]

Microsoft+Security. An oxymoron if ever there was one. I think you just burned your own argument.

Besides, when you say "control tower" who exactly do you refer to? Departure, arrival, mulitple enroute controllers, every controlled airspace along the route (Class B, C, and D)? On a cross-country flight you could have 100 seperate control towers. No thanks.

RE:Technology exists to authenticate wireless network traffic (e.g. RADIUS, going into Windows XP). That's to say, the plane's autopilot won't respond to anyone but the control tower personnel.

[workerbee]

If you're flying into BWI, your worst problem is likely to be getting your luggage back. Baggage claim positively sucks at BWI.

Prayers to you for a safe flight.

[annalex]

Re: flying planes form the ground

My post to you somehow disappeared; pardon me if this is a repost.

802.1X/RADIUS is a IETF network standard, it is not originated from Microsoft, but XP implements it. So do some network switches (Cisco).

Routing control packets to the right tower along the flight path is, of course, no problem.