2008-10 · NASA ASRS report 807259
A PHONE CALL FROM A PAX'S SPOUSE WAS PLACED TO THE ACFT'S SATCOM PHONE AFTER THE PAX CALLED HIS WIFE FROM THE ACFT AND WAS GIVEN THE ACFT'S SATCOM NUMBER.
WHILE IN CRUISE; WE RECEIVED A SATCOM CALL. A LADY WAS TRYING TO REACH A MAN WHO HAD JUST CALLED HER FROM THE NUMBER SHE WAS CALLING. APPARENTLY THE MAN HAD CALLED HER USING THE PHONE SYSTEM INSTALLED IN THE ACFT CABIN AND SHE WAS TRYING TO CALL HIM BACK. WE FEEL THIS IS A SECURITY PROBLEM IN THAT ANYONE COULD GAIN ACCESS TO THE SATCOM NUMBER SIMPLY BY HAVING SOMEONE ON THE FLT CALL THEM. THEY COULD THEN CALL THE FLT DECK OF AN ACFT IN FLT AND MAKE A THREAT AGAINST THE FLT OR AGAINST A PLT'S FAMILY. ALSO; SOMEONE ON THE FLT COULD ACTUALLY THROUGH A GND CONNECTION MAKE A CALL TO THE FLT DECK AND MAKE A THREAT AGAINST THE FLT. APPARENTLY WHEN A PAX MAKES A CALL FROM THE ACFT; EITHER THE NUMBER IS DISPLAYED ON THE CALLER ID OF THE PHONE RECEIVING THE CALL OR THE SYSTEM ALLOWS A CALL BACK TO THE NUMBER. WHEN CALLS ARE MADE FROM THE ACFT CABIN; THE NUMBER THE CALL COMES FROM SHOULD BE BLOCKED ON THE RECEIVING PHONE'S CALLER ID OR A FICTITIOUS NUMBER SHOULD BE DISPLAYED; AND OTHER MEASURES SHOULD BE TAKEN TO PREVENT THE SYSTEM FROM ALLOWING A CALL BACK. ONLY DISPATCH OR ATC SHOULD BE ABLE TO DIAL THE FLT DECK ON SATCOM. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: THE RPTR TALKED WITH THE CALLER THREE TIMES DURING THE FLT WHEN UNSOLICITED SATCOM CALLS WERE RECEIVED IN THE COCKPIT. THE CALLER STATED THAT THE CALLER ID NUMBER FROM THE PAX ONBOARD THE ACFT ALLOWED HER TO RETURN THE CALL. AS THE CREW QUESTIONED THE CALLER; SHE DID NOT KNOW THAT AN ACFT WAS CONTACTED MUCH LESS ITS LOCATION OR DEST. SHE WAS CONCERNED ABOUT THE WELFARE OF THE PAX AND STATED THAT IT MAY BE A MEDICAL MATTER. THE MSG WAS PASSED TO THE PAX ABOUT THE CALL AND IT WAS DISCOVERED DURING A SUBSEQUENT CALL THAT THE CALLER'S MAIN CONCERN WAS WHETHER THE PAX WAS SOBER AND IN GOOD HEALTH.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
Loading the flight search…
Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.
We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.
Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.
Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.