Buffer overflow flaw in British Airways in-flight entertainment systems will affect other airlines, but why try it in the air?

From theregister.co.uk

British Airways Boeing 777-300ER G-STBD passenger plane departure from London Heathrow Airport

A cybersecurity professor has insisted he was not hunting for a vulnerability when he found a denial-of-service bug on an in-flight entertainment screen during a long-haul flight. His findings could affect a number of airliners running Thales-made equipment.

But Hector Marco, an associate cybersecurity professor at the University of the West of Scotland, has received a kicking on social media from some in the security industry over his research method.

At the start of a commercial transatlantic flight he took in February, Marco pasted long strings of text into an in-flight chat app using a USB wireless mouse.