Computer Hacker Controls Plane - Criminal Minds | TV vs Reality 

They brought in a pilot to consult, promising free breakfast. They gave him a single Egg McMuffin. He gave them wrong information as revenge for their subpar offering.

As someone in Law Enforcement, I want to add one more huge pet peeve of mine with this show. Interviews at gunpoint do not happen IRL, yet in this show they happen every episode.

It is really remarkable how they managed to fit so many mistakes in a 42 min show.

When a subject matter expert manages to spend over 50 minutes explaining what is wrong with your 41 minute episode... sheesh. Way to go, Kelsey 👍

"Let's got to flagstaff, better change the temperature in the cabin", that one really got me :D

"There are no mid-air car crashes, despite what some people think." I love this guy! I've never seen Kelsey this wound up.

Producers were so proud of knowing guard they made the captain borderline scream the frequency “ONE TWO ONE POINT FIVE!” Lmao

I am a hotel general manager and as I’m watching this, I am so distracted by the shitty renovation someone did to the room you’re in, that was likely a single bedded full-size or queen bedded room and then some jackass corporate designer managed to fit a king in. Ugh I’m weird. Like I seriously can’t stop starting at that headboard.

Best quote: "Nobody presses the turbelance button."

"This is not a kid's toy, it's a real machine. It's operated by kids. There's a difference." 😂

*Props to this guy for clearing all the misconceptions about aviation*

Kelsey! I said it in the last video. That "Cash Register Noise" is simply the captain setting the time on her microwave burrito. You know better than any of us that flying a 747 using the wrong cockpit is very hungry work.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Captain has pressed the fasten seatbelts button because he will shortly be pressing the turbulence button. Please return to your seats immediately."

“Divert to Flagstaff” So I live in Flagstaff Az, we’ve got a small airport with one maybe two regional jets coming in on an 8,000ft runway (8,800 including displaced) Also density alt is always pretty high (summers usually 10,500). Phoenix sky harbor would be like 15-20 minutes further out of their way. Why would Flagstaff even be considered?!? Kelsey probably knows but I don’t think you’d have enough runway to land a 747 here. Lastly when they finally land, that was definitely not Flagstaff haha

Sunday + Kelsey is a perfect combination

Kelsey can never be on a pilotless plane...any plane he's on has a pilot.

Criminal minds: makes an episode about aviation Kelsey: …and I took that personally

Kelsey as you know, the internet connection on the aircraft is NOT connected to the flight director or auto pilot. I worked for Rockwell Collins in their engineering department, the idea of a hacker hacking into the internet on the aircraft was kicked around a lot 20 years ago, it was decided it was impossible for this to happen.

As a police officer, this is how I feel every single time I watch 99% of "cop shows." Literally every 5 minutes "that makes no sense" and "couldn't they pay for a consultant?"

Re: the pilot being the most situationally aware pilot ever. That’s Patrica Tallman playing the captain. She also played Lyta Alexander on Babylon 5, a telepath. It’s therefore possible that she is actually portraying Lyta’s ancestor who was, herself, telepathically gifted albeit to a far lesser extent. Vis-à-vis not a goof. DO YOUR RESEARCH, KELSEY!!! GOSH!!!

Can’t wait for the time where airliners have to buy antivirus for their airplanes

As a writer I've wanted to include pilots and aviation in several books. Its one of the reasons I watch RU-vid videos of pilots like yourself. Reality is you can watch a weeks worth of videos and be more accurate than what this program has presented. Appreciate the way you make your point in the various videos. Thanks for giving me a means of keeping things as real as possible. To some of us (unlike most of Hollywood) keeping things real is critical. I believe I owe it to those in aviation and to the readers. I kept waiting for them to find a way to send reams of paper flying through the air. As for 9/11 I've said many times that pilots and ATC didnt get enough credit for safely getting thousands of airplanes on the ground with little notice. Thanks Kelsey.

"Shutting down all the systems of the plane, because they were unable to send a text message"🤣🤣

This was awesome. We saw this episode when it originally aired and were appalled/astounded/shocked by how many things they got wrong... literally EVERYTHING! Thanks for doing this one! The MINDS that thought up the aviation stuff for this show were CRIMINAL!

I think the next Hollywood aviation blockbuster should hire Kelsey as an aviation tech advisor and me as an ATC advisor. Let’s do it.

I’ve seen this episode several times (I work for a TV network), and every time I play “count the F-16s.” The F-16 they scramble to escort IA61 is a magical composite variant that sometimes has one seat, sometimes two, and has a wide range of live and training ordinance on the wings, depending on the angle.

WOW they got one thing right in that episode. Thanks for pointing that Kelsey, otherwise I would have missed it. 🤣🤣🤣

I love how his Madagascar 2 video was less time explaining how things were wrong than this episode. If you are the producers or writers in Hollywood PLEASE ask Kelsey or just hire him before you shoot the episode.

My mum watched this episode and asked me many questions about stuff like this. You have explained it much better than what i did. Should send her these vids from this show.

I was waiting for Leslie Nielsen to enter the flight deck. Good video Kelsey.

"....It's operated by kids........". Good one, Kelsey! :)

Regarding your shoulder harness comment: sure while the plane is in the air its not going to crash into anything, but you gotta remember: these guys are filming it on the ground, they've gotta keep their seatbelts on because its always possible their studio might crash into another studio!

This episode was absolutely fantastic! I found myself laughing often at your feedback to their errors. Thanks for the much needed laughs Kelsey!

Kelsey making a part 2 - “and I took that personally”😂😂

Every time Kelsey does these Hollywood vs. reality reviews, his cortisol levels go over the roof... 🤣

With so much information available........and free. This fact that this nonsense continues is mind blowing. (On a side note, a pilot friend was asked which airliner does he prefer? He said Son, after 35 years, the best ones are the ones that take off and land safely, the other ones , not so much...........) Stay Safe Kelsy.

You definitely enjoyed making this video...that episode was so bad, it's hilarious...we definitely enjoyed watching you tear then to pieces...please do more!!!

Hey Kelsey > They're showing that 2012 Denzel Washington movie, "Flight" on EPIX. This was the movie that first caused me to find 74 Gear to check the authenticity. I watched the movie again this weekend and then went back to your review from how ever many years ago. It was still a great review of the movie but man you have really come a long way since then! You're much more confident, authoritative and easy going now. Great work! 👍

When you see that the best name they could come up with was "INTERLANTIC AIR", you know not to watch any further 😄

Keep on doing these Kelsey!! I remember watching that episode....good to know that lots of it wasn't based on reality.

16:51 I totally didnt know a 747 had a MD-11/DC-10-30 landing gear..

I watch every Kelsey episode and this two-part series has got to be my favorite! Keep it up brother!

Seems like we been waiting ages for this second half! Well excited 😊 🤗

Probably the best 74Gear video to date. You crack me up. I don't work in aviation and know nothing about planes so I love you how you break this down for people with no knowledge of what's going on and make it so entertaining. I also never watched an episode of Criminal Minds in my life. So I'm watching a video as a guy who knows nothing about planes, nothing about Criminal Minds, and loving every second of the video. That's solid work.

Awesome, fantastic job explaining this to us, it's so refreshing to learn the real deal, thank you.

I think they hired the Bandit as a consultant; "uuuhhhh, breaker one nine, running low on go-go juice tower, need to find a pickle park asap over..."

It is absolelutely amazing that a TV show with a run time of 45 minutes can produce such a catalogue of errors. More errors than a feature film lasting at least twice as long, and requiring a video time longer than the show itself to highlight the errors.

The varies Star Trek series took more care with consulting scientists on their "techno-babble", and that's a science fiction universe where you'd actually be allowed to bend the truth more. No excuse for a show like Criminal Minds to mess up so badly on things you could learn from Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Kelsey! Please do a Hollywood vs Reality on the movie "The Fast and the Fierce" on the Peacock streaming platform. The dialogue between ATC and the pilots seemed pretty well done, but the storyline and acting is atrocious!🤣

Gosh you had me laugh so much during these two videos. “I better change the temperature of the cabin” had me in stitches! Doesn’t help that it’s super late and I’m tiered xD

I like planes, and all. Nowhere near competent to know detailed stuff like aviation geeks and pilots, but, been watching Kelsey's vids for a while now. Very informative, comical & in this case, thorough creating a 2 parter to address the many upon many errors on this show... Definitely and finally deserves a subscribe. Thanks for your time and efforts, sir.

9:55 : On the issue of static if choosing the wrong frequency, this is sort of true and false at the same time. I'm a licensed radio operator, I was licensed > 20 years ago. All FM receivers do in their basic form is take an antenna (and whatever signals it receives) mixes those signals with a controlled LO (local oscillator) to produce an IF (intermediate frequency) usually at 10.7Mhz from the desired signal you want to hear. Then a demodulator will demodulate that 10.7Mhz signal into audio. To tune to another frequency, you merely change the LO frequency. The 10.7Mhz IF remains constant and fixed. In this simple form, you will hear static if no other signal is present because of background noise. Modern receivers then use a comparator that compares the strength of the incoming signal with some adjustable internal reference. If the signal is stronger than the reference, it turns on the demodulator. If its not, it doesn't. This is called Squelch and it can be adjusted. If you tune to an 'empty' frequency and open your squelch, you will indeed hear static. Try it. Though I don't know if you have this adjustment on aircraft radios or not. As to why Hollywood might think a wrong frequency might produce static, it's simple. Buy a cheap AM/FM radio, tune to a frequency with no station and observe. Cheap AM/FM radio's won't have a squelch setting. Lastly, and this is really more to the point, modern radios have a button called "Monitor", labeled "MON", usually located just under the PTT (Push to Talk button) that, when pressed, enables the demodulator and manually overrides any squelch settings (manually opens your squelch). Again, I don't know if aircraft radios have these, but modern HAM radios (Kenwood, Icom, Yaesu, Alinco, etc) do. The key concept to understand is that squelch sets a floor underwhich you will not hear any signals. So, the monitor button is used for two purposes. (1) To check your radio's volume settings by producing a sound on command (even if it's static, it still works for this purpose) and (2) to manually bypass squelch when trying to communicate with a station that is barely above the noise floor. In context, if you're changing from one frequency to another in the air, I'd assume this is because you're crossing out of one controller's airspace and into another, thus both your prior controller and your new controller will be at the extremes of their range from your perspective. So, it makes since to use the MON button in this context before concluding that the new frequency is empty or wrong because you expect the incoming signal to be weak (possibly above the noise floor, but below the squelch threshold.). Again, for a pilot, the radio I'd think is mostly an appliance to be used; just push the button and talk, occasionally change frequency, that's about it. I doubt you're trained terribly much on proper ediquite in DX (distant station) situations because in context with everything else you need to be doing, it's not terribly important or necessary.

6:37 Kelsey also aren't flight decks extremely small? It looks massive there and she's fully standing up haha.

I found part one was very good, Kelsey . Keep making vids like this. I’m not sure how your other 74 crew feels about these vids, but I find it very entertaining. As always, safe travels.

LOL they always say how rotor pilots have much higher situational awareness, and I'll take what you said about generally knowing where we should change Appr freq. for different areas as a compliment. We often fly so low that we'll regularly lose reception. Thus, we tend to try to get an idea of what freq. to be on in what area as part of flight planning. We often may be asked to fly higher amongst the approaching and departing airline traffic to which we'll generally reply, "unable" simply because we don't want to give y'all any reason to need those shoulder harnesses after rotation, like you mentioned. I wish someone had a recording of me going into KIAH last week in a small piston helicopter. They asked me 3 times to confirm my destination and type.

Hilarious! "You're not even trying"...great delivery

Great series!!. I love the Holywood vs. Reality !! From an air traffic control perspective Hollywood also really gets it wrong in their movies. Sometimes to a point where I end up laughing during the most serious part of the movie. The information they show on the screens is totally unrealistic and doesn't provide the information one would need to actually guide the traffic. Hollywood, next time invite some professionals, give them a free meal and listen to what they have to say :-)

Love watching Kelsey grinning and shaking his head while watching the video

I love the "I don’t know why you would push this button when that is happening, actually we would pull this lever"-type of comments, it is hilarious! 😂

Wow. I hope the people at Criminal Minds watch this breakdown of that episode. What a mess! It made for some very good entertainment for us 74 Gear fans though. Very enjoyable. Thanks, Kelsey! ...................................... Over.

Kelsey, I have to say your reaction is quality entertainment! That IA61 as "eye-ay-six-one" made me scream. The "ay" could be mistaken for "eight" if heard over radio. What happened to "India-Alpha-Six-One?" The "over" is often used in radio communication to indicate the person transmitting is done speaking, and the other party can proceed to reply. "Out" is end of transmission like hanging up the phone. Never "over and out." I believe aviation communications uses the aircraft or flight call sign in lieu of "over."

Couldn't help but notice that even though they had no control over the plane they miraculously got control of the landing gear and raised them again! I'm really enjoying all your vids.Old ones aswell as new. And learning aswell. Thanks Kelsey.

IV always loved playing flight Sims while watching this series

I'm don't work in aviation, but do in IT. As part of my job, I need to manipulate Windows and its software in ways that is not customary to get it to do what I want. One thing I've learned is if it's not a switch connected to wires, its state can be changed regardless of what the indication is. Saying that, if the autopilot enable/disable switch is software-based (its state is signalled to a computer that then actions the request) as opposed to hardware-based (it physically disconnects wires responsible for its engagement), then it could technically be hacked and its state ignored, whether by ignoring input or manipulating the state to always read a false positive. But, considering this hasn't been attempted the configuration is either hardware-based, or there's no entry point that allows you to make changes to make this possible. Great video as always Keylsey, professionals tearing into TV shows is always entertaining. Stay safe.

Just like watching a military movie. Have a C141 taking off, show a B52 landing gear coming up and show a C130 flight deck.

Kelsey, it's funny that you act like you know a lot about this plane when you've never flown a narrow body 747 with redundant turboprop engines without separate controls. If you actually knew the plane you would know the landing gear controls on this plane are inverted. It's also funny that you can create a better program in hotel room than they did on a professional set.

The only thing i would defend is having the landing gear down - Assuming they're filming in an actual aircraft (rather than, say, a sim) they can't really have the random actors touching random buttons while actually in the air, so it makes sense that they're still on the ground with the landing gear down

I don't know why this is so entertaining, but I was dying for this part 2. Absolutely love your personality and creative style.

there was no hacker on the ground, it was just mort on the wing again

Brilliant !!! this has to be my favourite commentary. Please continue to do these, I am rolling on the floor laughing.

When I was in the military there was a major that I served under. I had tremendous respect for him because he had my back. Twelve years later I crossed paths with him and he had changed, and in a bad way-he was a name dropping nabob. What had happened? He had been a military consultant on five movies that were disconnected from military reality. So, he had become like the consultant Kelsey named-answered a few questions and then Hollywood just made up it's own reality.

I have a few different subjects to comment on. I'm a former MIA ARTCC (ZMA) Controller 8 years (PATCO), Private Pilot solo at 16, and A&P that has 40 years with major airlines with the last 20 being an A&P Taxi instructor on MD11, B747, B757 and B767s. I don't state all that to toot my horn but to simply understand my experience level at age 67. I absolutely agree with all that has been said by Kelsey. I've seen episodes where on biz jet takes off and a completely different model and paint job landing. One thought about the B787 and A350. Although I haven't been to tech school on either one I know people that have worked delivery center in Charleston, SC. and others with A350 experience. With both of those aircraft they are all fly by wire as opposed to more classic designs, so the backup systems are just more fly by wire. The data base up loads for the aircraft is mostly an internet connection. According to my students who worked at Boeing. They stated that both of these aircraft could be one data load from being autonomous. Older aircraft had steel cables that ran from the cockpit to the outside control. Landing gear, throttles, all flight controls. They had single autopilots and every system could be over ridden incase of hydraulic failure. Now we enter Fly by wire. Loaded with a lap top. You can imagine what could happen. Several years a go there were surface to air shoulder fired missiles fired at an Israeli B757. The aircraft responded with flares (like AF1 or a C130). When this happened there were statements floating around that the Israelis were developing an anti hijacking system that could take the controls of the aircraft and control it from the ground while it rendered the cockpit controls inoperative. I haven't heard any more about that lately though. Kudos to this series .and Kelsey. Peace Out

I'm no pilot but I distinctly remember hearing pilots say "Over" "Roger" and "Dunn" quite often.

I've been waiting your subscriber count to hit 747k!

A new drinking game? One shot for every time Kelsey says “that makes no sense” this video would be responsible for mass liver failure!

Great vid! Thanks for the breakdown! Very interesting to see the behind the scenes/from another/more informed perspective! Keep it up!

Great analysis. Something I always ask myself when Hollywood has a scenario along the lines of "a hacker took control of [some important system]" is: how did the hacker TEST his program? When you're programming, you hardly EVER get it right the first time, you need to do a LOT of testing - and to test something like this, you'd need a 747 (of the same or very similar model to the one you're gonna hack) or all the relevant components from that 747, otherwise your program would almost certainly behave unexpectedly if not outright crash (itself, not the plane) the first time you tried it for real.

Out of all the vs reality videos, this one was the best and the one that got under Kelsey’s skin. Loved it! But also feel bad for his heart.

You should consider making a video about Breaking Bad Season 2 (Seven Thirty-Seven Down Over ABQ)

Brilliant. Just watched pt 1 and pt 2. Thanks Kelsey.

The major fallacy in the whole premise is that the flight software is not connected to the internet. It is physically firewalled in the flight computers. However, the communications and navigation systems are necessarily attached to networks. Also, don’t most autopilots have some sort of disconnect-on-input setting to prevent conflict with pilot inputs?

The Captain was a stunt actor on Star Trek and played a telepath on Babylon 5. Sounds like she’s still doing science fiction.

As far as I know, while most of the big planes need electronics to facilitate access to hydraulics and other systems, they do not need all this to be connected to an outside source. It's like "going manual", but not with direct control via wire or cranks, but more sophisticated using electronics. And, no, you can't "hack" all electronics. There needs to be some computers involved in that, which are capable of getting hacked and have some sort of control that can't be canceled (just run Linux and you are fine^^). Think of it like your car. Your Toyota is a modern car with a lot of electronics involved...but it can't be hacked from the outside because there is no connections that would allow that kind of access. If you are not driving some Google or Tesla things look different... Or think about Star Wars and Luke switching to manual to aim the torpedo at the strangely vulnerable, but very important exhaust port. Manual is good and important. Yes, some systems can be accessed from the outside, but critical ones have backups and manual backups. Now add to those what it takes to target different manufacturers, models, system updates, configurations. Doing it with from one place with coverage of the whole hemisphere with no interference. There probably are also safeguards in place to prevent this from happening. Like, you know, when you connect your BT device to your car entertainment system, you will be asked, if device X is allowed to connect and you have to press "yes". And, of course, using this great talent to be a criminal? I met a lot of criminals. They are not smart. Street smart maybe. The criminal mastermind often is just lucky, not smart. Or they just have a lot of insider knowledge (like guard rotations, etc.) to pull it off AND the will to kill 100+ innocent people for your own enjoyment. I would not get on any plane, if it were that easy to get access and let it crash. Neither would the pilots, I guess^^

I'm an uber driver in Anchorage and give lots of rides to pilots from atlas, ups, FedEx and others. I've heard some good stories from them. You guys live an interesting life. Cheers 🍻

C’mon Kelc… Flagstaff is usually cooler than Phoenix, so if you’re gonna divert, the first thing you wanna do is warm up the cabin… it’s all about passenger comfort man!!!

The one man in the cockpit happened on Germanwings-flight 9525 when the co-pilot Andreas Lubitz committed suicide by flying the plane into ground.That was in 2015.

Love these hotel reviews, unfortunately no mention of the soap brand in the bathroom.

I would never be able to watch the actual episode without you ripping them apart

You might also notice that the 747 the show is using is a 200, so I’m sure there’s not a whole lot of systems that can be hacked.

Hello! Software engineer here and used to work at one of the majors. One of my jobs was to update the Boeing fleet's firmware every month (including the map cycles etc). FIrst, there is ZERO links to the aircraft systems and the internet. All firmware updates are done manually (with floppies) on each aircraft and are coded for a specific serial number. ACARS communiction is done thorugh radio frequences and hosted by ARINC. The FMC talks to the ACARS systems and can get flightplans, messages etc to and from the aircraft. THere is no connection with that to the physcial systems. I am getitng at to the FBW systems on Airbus's and the 787/777. What you said disconnecting the autopilot disconnects the FMC from the aircraft. So IF someone was able to code a message to get passed through ARINC that could change the FMC, it would be noticed pretty quickly and all you have to do is fix the FMC or disconnect. To my knowledge that is physcially impossible though the way ARINC codes the messages. As for the onboard wifi, that is completely seperated phsically from any aircraft systems. Just my two cents.

The flight management system can be isolated from every other networked system on a modern aircraft. Flight plans can be highly encrypted and sent to the plane in burst mode via satellite transmission. A star comparator onboard guarantees five independent interpretations are identical. The FMS takes the received bundle and flies the plane. No real time link. If you can figure out how to hack into that system, call the National Security Agency. They have a career opening for you.

10:38 Picturing Kelsey on a road trip with the homies. LOL!

She would absolutely know where they are, she used to be a telepath altered by the Vorlons.

I had a really good laugh. Thanks for your commentary. Keep up the great work! I love the vids. 👍

I am a "computer guy" who works on computer communications, and I can tell you that there is no connection between the Internet and the critical computers in the plane. If there was, then you could play computer games or access your gmail account from the navigation computer in the cockpit. All of the critical components in every system, including banks, for example, work in a computer network that is disconnected from the Internet. If the connection exists, it is gross negligence from the engineers in charge.

I have been watching Kelsey for so long I find myself critiquing shows with planes at times screaming you idiots that's not how it works and yes for some strange reason even major hollywood movies like Air Force One and others pilots love that overhead panel like it holds all the answers to aviation inside it. Awesome video

Kelsey: If the auto pilot plays up the pilot can disengage it MCAS: Hold my beer

19:36 i just sprayed out my dinner. "Let's head to Flagstaff and so, let's turn up the heat."

Oh hell yes Btw:Theres another movie where someone hacks airplanes called Air Panic and its 100% worse than this movie but atleast the exterior and interior of an Airbus A320 is correct

You watching flights on tv/movies is me watching people doing lab work. All those CSI shows were very entertaining.