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What’s New: More reports of flights being aborted because of interference with GPS.
Why It’s Important: Additional evidence of the subtle but noteworthy degradation of system safety and efficiency caused by jamming.
What Else to Know:
- Most airports have equipment and procedures to continue operations even when GPS is denied.
- Some smaller ones, like Tartu, rely upon solely on GPS to guide aircraft to the runway (approach) and/or safe landings in low visibility. So if GPS isn’t available, aircraft can’t land.
- A number of airports in northern Norway rely entirely on GPS-based approaches. Russian jamming has been a problem there for years.
- GPS-based approach procedures are helpful in all weather and visibility conditions (especially at night, for example) and always add to the safety of operations.
- Elsewhere the world – An aircraft trying to land at Beirut recently returned to Turkey because of interference with GPS.
See second article below for update.
Second Finnair flight turns back from Tartu due to GPS interference
Finnair Suspends Flights To Estonian Airport Due To ‘GPS Interference In The Area’
The approach to Tartu is dependent on GPS – and the Russian border is only 40km away
A leading international airline has cancelled all flights to an Estonian airport until June at the earliest due to “GPS interference in the area”.
Finnair says that its normal services to Tartu, the cultural hub of Estonia, cannot operate safely because the approach is dependent on Global Positioning System (GPS) technology.
In a post on X, the Finnish airline said: “We’re suspending our flights to Tartu from 29 April until 31 May.
