New aviation workgroup on spoofing – all invited

by | Jul 17, 2024 | Blog

Image: Stanford Univ

What’s New: Opsgroup is forming a series of workgroups to address spoofing in aviation and what they see as inadequate responses.

Why It’s Important: Spoofing has increased dramatically and is a threat to aviation safety and air traffic efficiency.

The above graph shows the increase in numbers of GPS Spoofed flights from January through to June 2024.  Source: Zurich University of Applied Sciences / SkAI Data Services.

What Else to Know:

  • Opsgroup has 8,000+ members who are pilots, dispatchers, schedulers, and controllers involved in international flight operations.

  • Note the comment below “an accident is imminent.”

 

Why this Workgroup?

We are concerned that the GPS Spoofing problem is getting out of hand. Our primary worries:

– 400% increase in spoofing now compared to start of year – 900 spoofed flights per day on average.
– Intensity and duration increasing, locations widening (from 3 in Q1 to 10+ now)
– Lots of vague information, very little clear guidance for crews
– Growing latent safety risk due to dozens of knock-on effects
– EGPWS is beginning to be routinely ignored or inhibited
– Go arounds caused by spoofing becoming more common
– Further affects CPDLC, TCAS, ADS-B, ND/Wind Display, HUD, Weather Radar, TXPDR
– Full layer of “Swiss Cheese” has been removed – an accident is imminent.
– No clear approach from industry to solving this

JOIN THE GPS SPOOFING WORK GROUP

How will this work?

We will take a methodical approach.

Week 1: First, we will gather together. We will briefly review the problem, and determine the best outcome for this Workgroup.

Week 2: We will collect information and data about the issues.

Week 3: We discuss the key aspects of the problem in different teams: Flight Safety, Risk/Security, Mitigations/Crew Guidance, Technical/Solutions.

Week 4: We will produce a final report. The ultimate aim is a useful community report with information and analysis of the problems, guidance for crew, and recommendations for the industry.

REGISTER FOR FIRST WORKGROUP CALL ON 19 JULY