India, July 13 -- The existence of a 2006 Boeing patent outlining a remote-controlled aircraft override system has resurfaced following the preliminary findings into the crash of Air India Flight AI171, which crashed in Ahmedabad on 12 June, killing 260 people.
The patent, registered as US7142971B2 and granted to Boeing on 28 November 2006, is titled "Method and system for automatically controlling a path of travel of a vehicle."
The design which was filed in 2003, was developed in the post-9/11 terror attacks and the resultant security environment.
It, if implemented, allowed the system to take full remote control of a commercial aircraft in the event of a hijacking. As described in the patent, the system would override onboard pilot co...