EU leader's plane GPS jammed in Bulgaria. We are shocked! Shocked!

Image: GPSJam.org

What’s new: Well, perhaps not ‘new’ but it is in the news. The leader of the EU flew into Bulgaria yesterday on a chartered plane and landing was delayed because of GPS jamming.

Why it’s important: Even though jamming impacts tens of thousands of EU air passengers every day, it’s different when it happens to those at the top. For one thing, it makes news, which raises overall awareness of the hazards. And it helps those at the top really understand the problem.

What else to know: Lots of interesting tidbits, depending on the report you read:

The pilots circled for an hour before having to land using paper maps – Oh dear!
Russia is “suspected” or “alleged” to have been responsible. Really, we are still saying that?
The plane was “targeted” by the jamming. – Some reports go on to say maybe not, others to point out it has been happening for a while and in many parts of the continent. – It wasn’t targeted,
One report said its research had found 80 other incidents like this. Another said 300 in March.- Pretty hasty research to come up with numbers that low.
One report quoted EU officials saying they were launching satellites into low earth orbit to help better detect interference. – Detection does not seem to be the problem…
The EU leader had just come from visits to Latvia, Finland, Poland, and Estonia. – We are pretty surprised her plane’s GPS wasn’t jammed in those countries also. – Perhaps it was, but this was the last straw and she decided to make a fuss.
The interference pattern in Bulgaria displayed by GPSJam.org for Sunday, the day the flight arrived, looks the same as it has for a long, long time.