I was doing some work for the FAA right after 9/11. One idea that was talked about was a ground-operated system to take control of an airliner. If a 747 started to descend in the direction of — you know: Manhattan — the authorities could take over from the pilot and send the plane to a safer destination.
It was rejected as “too expensive”. And now, here we are, worried that some guy with a laptop might be able to do it.
From a security standpoint, I think that if an authorized system were in place to allow “the right people” to take control, it would be be very much part of that system to ensure that “the wrong people” could not. This is not a hard thing. It’s like the nuclear football. Taking control is impossible — unless the President releases the special code. Only then can the control be given to people on the ground.
But we don’t specialize in homeland security or anything. It’s expensive.
The report is crap. I work in this field, and there is a hell of a lot more separation between the flight and entertainment systems than is being discussed.