Chris Roberts had accessed the controls of up to 20 planes over three years by connecting his computer to the control panel for the in-flight entertainment system, an FBI warrant says.

Chris Roberts had accessed the controls of up to 20 planes over three years by connecting his computer to the control panel for the in-flight entertainment system, an FBI warrant says. Fox News

FIGURES in the Australian aviation industry are sceptical whether it is possible to 'hack in' to the cockpit of a plane, after an American man allegedly told the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) he had taken control of a plane's engines with his laptop.

US security researcher Chris Roberts had accessed the controls of up to 20 planes over three years by connecting his computer to the control panel for the in-flight entertainment system, an FBI warrant says.

Once inside the plane's system, the document says, he was able to access information from the cockpit on three models of Boeing aircraft and the Airbus A320, and in one case sent a command to the engine's thruster that caused the plane to move sideways.

Last month Roberts' computers were seized and he was escorted off a United Airlines flight after he posted a tweet suggesting he could cause passenger oxygen masks to drop.

But despite Roberts' assurances his only motivation in researching vulnerabilities in aircrafts was to improve security, Australian aviators have doubts the "hack" he detailed to the FBI works.

Read more at Brisbanetimes.com.au