Aircraft bomb marks end of in-flight Wi-Fi?

Last week's discovery of explosive packed in laser printer cartridges connected to a mobile phone could mean the end of Wi-Fi connections for passengers in flights.

Last week's discovery of explosive packed in laser printer cartridges connected to a mobile phone could mean the end of Wi-Fi connections for passengers in flights.

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A cellphone connected to a detonation circuit could have allowed a terrorist to trigger an explosion by calling or texting the phone, reports New Scientist.

Recently, the aviation industry was gearing up to provide in-flight entertainment systems that feature both cellphone and Wi-Fi connections for passengers, but the bomb find could change all that now.

Roland Alford, managing director of Alford Technologies, an explosives consultancy in UK, said he expects the technology to be scrutinised in the security reviews being undertaken by the UK government and US Department of Homeland Security in the wake of the discovery of the printer bombs on flights. In-flight Wi-Fi “gives a bomber lots of options for contacting a device on an aircraft”, Alford said.