Floppy disks are not dead, Boeing 747-400s use floppy disks for critical software updates

According to reports, Boeing 747 - 400s still receive critical security updates, including navigational databases using 3.5-inch floppy disks. Security researchers at Pen Test recently got full access to a Boeing 747 aircraft after the UK-based Big Airlines decided to retire the fleet owing to a plummet in travel due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The team was able to get access to the avionic bay of the Boeing 747 aircraft, which is tucked beneath the floor of the lower passenger deck.

Upon examination, security researchers discovered a 3.5-inch floppy disk drive in the cockpit. This drive, as mentioned before, is used to load navigational databases on the aircraft and it is updated every 28 days by an engineer.

Boeing 747 is not the only aircraft that uses floppy disks for delivering critical updates to its system. Another report from 2014 pointed out that Boeing 737 uses a similar technique for delivering updates to the aircraft’s system. Thankfully Boeing has updated its aircraft models. Boeing’s new aircraft models, which includes Boeing 777x and 787 use fibre networks for the updating of the plane’s systems.