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| The Boeing 747 is receiving important updates on the floppy disk |
The Boeing 747-400 was first introduced in 1988. Important software updates are available on a 3.5-inch floppy disk.
Safety researchers on the team (Pen Test Partners) recently secured the right to use a British Airways Boeing 747 after they had recently decided to withdraw from the fleet due to a steep drop. Traveling during the UK Coronavirus Pandemic.
The team was able to inspect the entire avionics cabin below the passenger deck and use modular black box racks similar to those in data centers to perform various functions of the aircraft.
The Stylus Test Partners team found a 3.5-inch floppy drive in the cockpit that downloads critical navigation databases that need to be updated every 28 days. Engineers had to visit the plane every month to keep it abreast of the latest updates.
While it may seem surprising that 3.5-inch floppy disks are still used in aircraft today, many Boeing 737s have also used floppy disks to load avionics software for years.
According to a 2015 Aviation Today report, the databases on these drives are getting bigger and bigger.
Some airlines are reluctant to use floppy disks, while others continue to use them as engineers visit the plane every month to download eight discs, including airport, road and runway updates.
The 10-minute Boeing 747 video tour is an understanding of parts of an aircraft that you've never seen before, especially on board a decades-old plane.
This concert tour is part of this year's Virtual Def Con (the biggest hacker conference in the USA).
As modern aircraft rely on more advanced technologies, security researchers are increasingly interested in how to prevent passenger aircraft from disrupting flight.
The security of the in-flight entertainment system is especially important as security researchers discovered a bug on British Airways flights over the past year.
Researchers were able to instantly paste long strings of characters into the chat app using a USB mouse, completely disrupting the on-board entertainment system.
Security researchers are always looking for vulnerabilities that allow them to communicate with the flight system in parts of an aircraft that are open to the public.
Modern aircraft (such as Boeing 787) use a fiber optic network in which all avionics are connected to the network and are controlled by two computers that perform important flight operations.
However, the software that powers modern aircraft is not always reliable, as Boeing has resumed production of the defective 737 Max after two fatal crashes caused by software bugs, resulting in 346 passengers and crew. In fatal accidents. dead.
While modern technology can be used, it does not prevent the development of floppy disks in other industries.
The Pentagon stopped using 8-inch floppy disks to coordinate national nuclear forces in October, and floppy disks flooded the International Space Station.