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What’s New: The European Union Aviation Safety Authority (EASA) recently issued a warning about an increase in GNSS interference over the last 11 months.
Why its Important:
- GPS/GNSS is used for navigation, approaches and landings (often), avoiding mid-air collisions, and ensuring the safe and efficient flow of air traffic.
- It is also use for a variety of in-cockpit services like finding the quickest and best landing place in emergencies.
- GPS/GNSS interference can cause aircraft to wander off course without the pilots’ knowledge.
- In at least one case it almost caused a commercial passenger aircraft to crash into a mountain.
- ICAO has issued an urgent warning about GNSS disruption.
Why We are Concerned:
- The EASA Safety Information Bulletin lists a whole bunch of bad things that can happen to aircraft during GNSS interference. Yet it doesn’t say out loud “hazardously misleading information” or “you could crash into a mountain or another airplane.”
- It also says the “safety concern” is not considered an “unsafe condition” requiring a “Safety Directive.” This despite the real and documented potential for fatal accidents.
They did come up with a humorous poster, though (below). Hmmm…
Safety Information Bulletin
Operations – ATM/ANS
SIB No.: 2022-02R1
Issued: 17 February 2023
Subject: Global Navigation Satellite System Outage Leading to Navigation / Surveillance Degradation
Revision: This SIB revises EASA SIB 2022-02 dated 17 March 2022.
Ref. Publications: None.
Applicability: National Aviation Authorities (NAAs), Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) and air operators.
Description: Since February 2022, there has been an increase in jamming and or possible spoofing of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). This issue particularly affects the geographical areas surrounding conflict zones but is also present in the eastern Mediterranean, Baltic Sea and Arctic area.
