Boeing 747 , Still Uses floppy disk of 1.44MB for critical updates for aircraft

Cubepost, Aug 13, 2020

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Boeing 747-400 aircraft, Uses 3.5 Inch Floppy Disk for Critical Updates Every 28 Days to Update Navigation Database

The Pen Test Partners recently got to visit the decision to retire the fleet of being 747-400 operated by British Airways, which was introduced in the late 80s, The team had a look at the avionics bay, Which is the brain of the aircraft which has servers and all the computers working, located beneath the passenger deck and forward of the cargo compartment.

Floppy disk is 1.44MB storage size in general compared to a small image taken by HD cam these days

But believe it, it is still used in aircraft for critical navigational database updates every 28 days, where Boeing related engineers come and update the database with 8 sets of disks with the runway, flight paths, airports, etc data. These technologies are near absolute so many operators find the repairs hard in the case or the maintenance of the system needs a huge price in comparison to new systems, So they retire and replace with new aircraft which can save them huge costs as the new aircraft are more fuel-efficient.

The above came to believe it list when a 10-minute video tour of the 747 is a fascinating insight into the parts of the plane you never get to see, particularly on a decades-old airliner. The tour is part of this year’s virtual Def Con conference, the US’ largest hacker conference. As modern planes rely upon ever more sophisticated technology, security researchers are increasingly interested in how planes prevent passengers from interfering with flights.