Computers and Aircraft - How well do they mix?

It's interesting how you either don't hear about these stories, or how they quickly disappear.

- Malaysian Air 777 - In flight upset...

- Quantas Boeing 747 loses electrical power....

The latest computer technology built into aircraft can do some amazing things, but is it also something that can lead to disaster?

Providing internet to passengers on the new Boeing 787 makes it theoretically possible to hack into the flight controls using a laptop in the cabin, because the same network is used for both. Although Boeing insists that controls are in place to make sure information cannot be passed back and forth, we know better.

Imagine a scenario where a teenager in economy class decides to take the aircraft to Fiji instead of Hawaii. Some of the teenagers today have probably perfected their skills on Flight Simulator and other computer games to the point where if they took control of the plane, they just might be able to do it.

The worse scenario would be for someone with more nefarious motives to hack in.