Let’s step back and look at what was demonstrated this week by Hugo Teso, a consultant for Germany-based n.runs AG. As Forbes reports, Teso found vulnerabilities in two systems that handle communication between airplanes and air traffic controllers. Using an Android app and an exploit framework, Teso hacked into a virtual airplane, which he cobbled together from training simulation software and flight management hardware that he bought on eBay.

As you might expect, there’s a big difference between a PC-based training simulator and the actual in-flight systems that commercial airlines use. Real flight systems have extra protection and redundancies. The simulation does not. In a statement to the Inquirer, the European Aviation Safety Agency said that Teso’s system does not reveal any potential vulnerabilities in the real world.

Likewise, the Federal Aviation Administration said that Teso’s hack “does not pose a flight safety concern because it does not work on certified flight hardware.

But what if we assume that eventually, someone will figure out how to hack into a real flight management system? The good news here is that pilots aren’t helpless.