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” Both the London Evening Standard[1] and The Daily Mail[2] reported Boeing's admission as to having the BHUAP Installed.
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"
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.
2003 Wired News Report “European airplane maker Airbus, owned by EADS (EAD) and Britain's BAE Systems, has been working on the project with Honeywell for years, although development sped up after the Sept. 11, 2001 hijacking attacks.“[3] The quote from Airbus clearly reveals that Pilot Authority Denial systems were ALREADY BEING DEVELOPED by Honeywell prior to 2001.
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.[4]
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.[5]
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.[6]
1993: The purpose of the Technology Reinvestment Project (TRP) is to promote integration of the commercial and military industrial bases, through dual-use technology investments. Emphasis is on cost-sharing. 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.[7]
1995–2000: The brains of the Boeing ever since 1995 are the Integrated Management System (AIMS)[8] 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.[9]
Software: The Boeing 777 was programmed using the Ada-95 Programming Language, the same language as for the Dark Star and the Apollo Project. At Boeing's insistence, the aircraft systems software had to be written in the Ada programming language.[10] Previous investments in Dual-use and TRP technology could therefore be reused.
The Boeing-Honeywell Uninterruptible Autopilot
This brief summary shows how Dual-Use technology developed for the Department of Defense or other governmental projects made it possible for remote control hardware and software to be installed in both Boeing and Airbus commercial aircraft. The technology and computer systems were fully developed by 1995 under DARPA, and it would make commercial sense for Boeing and Honeywell to recoup the cost of those technologies by re-using them in their commercial systems.
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.
References
- ^ "New autopilot will make another 9/11 impossible". London Evening Standard. 2007. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
- ^ "New autopilot will make another 9/11 impossible". The Daily Mail. 2007. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
- ^ "Flying Safety Put on Auto-Pilot". Wired News. Wired News. 08/12/03. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Darkstar". Boeing. The Boeing Company. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
- ^ "US 4787041 A - Flight management system providing minimum total cost". Google Patents. US Patent Office. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
- ^ "THE ECONOMICS OF COMMERCIAL-MILITARY INTEGRATION AND DUAL-USE TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENTS 1995" (PDF). US DoD. US DoD.
- ^ Second To None: Preserving America's Military Advantage Through Dual-Use Technology. US DoD. 1995. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
- ^ "WO 2002006115 A9 - Flight control modules merged into the integrated modular avionics". Google Patents. US Patent Office. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
- ^ "US 6317659 B1 - Layered subsystem architecture for a flight management system". Google Patents. US Patent Office. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
- ^ "Boeing Flies on 99% Ada". Adalc. Adalc. Retrieved 19 July 2014.