patents as ambit claims
I'm confident that the pilot lockout technology described in patent 7142971 was not a factor in the disappearance of MH370. Most patents are ambit claims, combining a range of innovations into a device that may or may not eventually prove viable. The point then is that any company that makes something that relies on any of these innovations has infringed on the patent. I doubt that Boeing has perfected a complete system as described, but if they have it would be doubly unlikely that it found is way into an aircraft that was flying before the patent was filed.