Boeing Honeywell Uninterruptible Autopilot

In response to Civil Case 3:07-cv-24 at District Court, District of North Dakota on 27 February 2007, Boeing issued a statement to reporters documented on the 3rd March 2007 admitting to the existence of the Boeing Uninterruptible Autopilot. The Boeing patent is US7142971B2, 19 Feb 2003 System and method for automatically controlling a path of travel of a vehicle.

As early as 2005, Boeing’s preferred avionics supplier, Honeywell, was reported to be talking to both Boeing and Airbus about fitting a device aimed at preventing a 9/11-style hijack. On the 16th April 2003, Honeywell filed patent US7475851B2 Method and apparatus for preventing an unauthorized flight of an aircraft. Airbus and BAE Systems, had been working on the project with Honeywell. Development sped up after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

What is referred to as the Unauthorized Flight Detector in the patents lies within the software of the Line Replaceable Units making up the Honeywell AIMS system at the heart of the Boeing 777, and it is programmed with the software routines that monitor for the emergency circumstances on which to initiate the Boeing Honeywell Uninterruptible Autopilot.

1980–1999

Boeing and Honeywell along with Lockheed Martin developed the DarkStar UAV: Boeing:”…it could take off, fly to its target, operate its sensors, transmit information, return and land without human intervention.” Boeing also states that the flight path could be modified en route from a remote location by up-linking new waypoints to the Darkstar'sFlight Management System.

1984

Honeywell develop a digitally integrated Flight Management System that will automatically fly an aircraft along the best route according to an integrated flight database and flight cost routines.

1992

To maintain its technological advantage, the Department of Defense co-funded R&D development of technology for dual military / civilian use. Boeing could on-sell this technology to recoup its development costs.

1993

The purpose of the Technology Reinvestment Project (TRP) unveiled by the Clinton Administration is to promote integration of the commercial and military industrial bases, through dual-use technology investments. The emphasis was on cost-sharing between the government and private sectors. This cost-share ensures industries commitment to the project and lays the foundation for industry to assume the total cost of production development, and in some cases, reuse that technology in the commercial sphere.

Development history of the Boeing Honeywell Uninterruptible Autopilot

1995–2000

The brains of the Boeing ever since 1995 are the Integrated Management System (AIMS) and the Integrated Air-data Inertial Reference System (ADIRS), which are both supplied by Honeywell.

2000 onwards

At the heart of the 2000 upgrade was Honeywell’s Airplane Information Management System (AIMS) where-by the third redundant flight control computer was relocated into the AIMS with its own inaccessible secondary power supply.

The Boeing 777 was programmed using the Ada-95 Programming Language at Boeing's insistence. Previous investments in Dual-use and TRP technology could therefore be reused.

In a hijack situation, BHUAP can remove all power to the cabin and cockpit and the AIMS will still function normally, either through executing a programmed flight plan, or by opening an RF data link to an external source (via the Mode S Transponder) to receive direct, remote Flight Management Computer instruction, or an unlinked back-up flight plan. The AIMS had direct control over the flight surfaces through the redundant Flight Control Computer and requires no pilot input.