External / uninterruptible autopilot on 9M-MRO
Engineering precedent exists. Installation on this airframe is not established.
Boeing US7142971B2 and Cubic US6641087B1 describe remote engagement, disconnected cockpit controls, dedicated links. No maintenance/mod/certification record currently in this archive places that architecture on 9M-MRO.
The correct test, from the working report: not “was remote control imaginable?” — it was — but whether 9M-MRO had hardware, datalink, power architecture and flight-control authority for external commands, and whether independent records support it. Until a specific modification, test event or link is placed on this tail number, this remains a hypothesis with patent-level precedent only.
Sources
- Boeing US7142971B2
- Cubic Defense US6641087B1
Related
Boeing US7142971B2 — uninterruptible automatic control
Remote engagement · disconnected onboard controls
Cubic US6641087B1 — anti-hijack remote pilot
Commercial retrofit · satellite relay · cockpit exclusion
Did 9M-MRO have any path for external flight-control commands?
Broader ISR collection architecture (not “MH370 was Orion”)
Working hypothesis of the Drive research programme
Boeing files uninterruptible-autopilot priority
19 February 2003 · later US7142971B2
Cubic Defense anti-hijack remote-pilot patent granted
US6641087B1 · filed 9 Oct 2001 · granted 4 Nov 2003
Third-party intervention
Official report: cannot be excluded