I know this sounds wacky, but I decided to Google it anyway.  Here are a few of the hits that I read or watched.

Something called Homeland Security Newswire had the article Emergency landing round-up: Boeing wins patent on uninterruptible autopilot system published 4 December 2006.

New technology can be activated by the pilots, government agencies, even on-board sensors; not even a tortured pilot can give up control; dedicated electrical circuits ensure the system’s total independence

The UK Daily Mail had the article New autopilot will make another 9/11 impossible published 3 March 2007.

The so-called ‘uninterruptible autopilot system’ – patented secretly by Boeing in the US last week – will connect ground controllers and security services with the aircraft using radio waves and global satellite positioning systems.

After it has been activated, the aircraft will be capable of remote digital control from the ground, enabling operators to fly it like a sophisticated model plane, manoeuvring it vertically and laterally.

A threatened airliner could be flown to a secure military base or a commercial airport, where it would touch down using existing landing aids known as ‘autoland function’.

After it had landed, the aircraft’s built-in autobrake would bring the plane safely to a halt on the runway.

Boeing insiders say the new anti-hijack kit could be fitted to airliners all over the world, including those in the UK, within the next three years.

Then I found the CNN report Remote Controlled Autopilot Boeing Patent.

So what’s wrong with these reports? Snopes has nothing to say about this.

If you keep looking you run across things like the story from Before It’s News MH370 $MultiBillion Patent Passengers: Pilot Warned About Crisis, Gagged, Speaks Out.  I guess the only thing to keep in mind is that Faux Noise makes up stories all the time that millions of people believe.  That doesn’t mean that this one is necessarily untrue.

Obviously we ought to check the US Patent Office to even see if there truly is such a patent.  7,142,971 System and method for automatically controlling a path of travel of a vehicle.

The method and system for automatically controlling a path of travel of a vehicle include engaging an automatic control system when the security of the onboard controls is jeopardized. Engagement may be automatic or manual from inside the vehicle or remotely via a communication link. Any onboard capability to supersede the automatic control system may then be disabled by disconnecting the onboard controls and/or providing uninterruptible power to the automatic control system via a path that does not include the onboard accessible power control element(s). The operation of the vehicle is then controlled via the processing element of the automatic control system. The control commands may be received from a remote location and/or from predetermined control commands that are stored onboard the vehicle.

Assignee: The Boeing Company (Chicago, IL) , Filed: February 19, 2003

2017/06/04

Disabled the link to the U.s. Patent office above because of suspected malware at the link.