Boeing Uninterruptible Autopilot

The Boeing Uninterruptible Autopilot, or BUAP, is a system designed to take control of a commercial aircraft away from the pilot or flight crew, chiefly in the event of a hijacking, and allow the craft to be remotely controlled to a landing at a designated airstrip. The action can be initiated either by crew or by government entities on the ground.

Contract for the system was awarded in 2006. Installation began in 2007 with full implementation in Boeing craft anticipated by 2009. However, the retroactive nature of the integration with key original craft systems prompted the manufacturer, the Boeing Corporation, to make disclaimers that it could no longer assure the craft could not in effect be hacked by non-authorized entities:

"The proposed architecture is novel or unusual for commercial transport airplanes by enabling connection to previously isolated data networks connected to systems that perform functions required for the safe operation of the airplane. This proposed data network and design integration may result in security vulnerabilities from intentional or unintentional corruption of data and systems critical to the safety and maintenance of the airplane. The existing regulations and guidance material did not anticipate this type of system architecture or electronic access to aircraft systems. Furthermore, regulations and current system safety assessment policy and techniques do not address potential security vulnerabilities, which could be caused by unauthorized access to aircraft data buses and servers."

The BUAP thus also ironically came to also figure into alternative theories for events like the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight 370.