Cubic US6641087B1 — anti-hijack remote pilot
Commercial retrofit · satellite relay · cockpit exclusion
Confirmed patent. Activation onboard or by remote override; deactivate normal pilot control; uplink airspeed/altitude/fuel; optional disable of ordinary communications; CVR/FDR upload. USPTO: 4-year fee 4 May 2007, 8-year fee 4 May 2011, expired 4 Nov 2015 for later non-payment. In force on 8 March 2014. No installation evidence in this archive.
USPTO records show the 4-year fee paid 4 May 2007 and the 8-year fee paid 4 May 2011. The patent expired 4 November 2015 for later non-payment. Continuation US10/684,316 was abandoned 18 January 2007; that abandonment is not Cubic walking away from the granted parent. Cubic held a granted commercial-aircraft remote-piloting patent through the MH370 period. Inventor Douglas G. Nelson. There is still no prototype, FAA or DoD evaluation, airline installation, or 777 compatibility in this file. Cubic later sold real UAV datalinks (Watchkeeper TCDL, 2014 INL CDL award). That is a separate capability from this 2001 commercial-airliner patent.
Sources
- US6641087B1
Related
Cubic Defense anti-hijack remote-pilot patent granted
US6641087B1 · filed 9 Oct 2001 · granted 4 Nov 2003
External / uninterruptible autopilot on 9M-MRO
Engineering precedent exists. Installation on this airframe is not established.
Boeing US7142971B2 — uninterruptible automatic control
Remote engagement · disconnected onboard controls
Cubic remote-pilot patent was maintained through March 2014
Boeing files uninterruptible-autopilot priority
19 February 2003 · later US7142971B2
Did 9M-MRO have any path for external flight-control commands?
MAGIC, Aurora and Boeing/NRL patents drop from the paper trail in 2014
Remote-control claims versus evidence gaps
Patent, QF-16, Teso FMS proof-of-concept · installation on 9M-MRO still open