Russia is increasingly and more intensively thwarting pilots flying in the vicinity of the Baltic states and Scandinavia. Earlier this week, the Finnish airline Finnair stopped flying to the Estonian city of Tartu altogether. But Dutch pilots are also experiencing inconvenience from GPS jammers deployed by Russia. “We were informed in advance that this was taking place in the region,” says pilot Ruud Stegers on BNR.
Russia thwarts Western pilots: ‘Navigation more inaccurate’
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According to Stegers, who is also vice president of pilot association VNV, there are two ways in which GPS systems can be thwarted from outside. There is GPS jamming, ‘which is disrupting the signal’, and GPS spoofing. ‘Then suddenly there are different sources that diverge, which increases the inaccuracy of the navigation system.’
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Stegers himself experienced problems with the navigation system due to GPS jamming on a flight to Helsinki. ‘We were informed in advance that this was taking place in the region. Then one of the procedures is to turn off the system. But this also makes general navigation more inaccurate, but we did that in this case.’ The disruption of the systems does not just happen, the pilot emphasizes. ‘It’s definitely intentional, this doesn’t happen by accident. Certainly not in the case of spoofing.’
Wrong signal
It can also pose major risks, especially if pilots do not realize it and the systems are severely disrupted. ‘Recently there was a Dutch pilot who flew over the Middle East and received warnings that he had to climb because he was too close to the ground. While he was just flying at an altitude of ten kilometers and couldn’t even see the mountains when he looked outside.’ This situation did not turn out to be dangerous, but that could happen, Stegers warns. ‘It also distracts the pilots and you can no longer rely on your system, which is a major issue for us.’
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Solution is difficult
However, there is no simple solution for these types of disruptions. However, manufacturers of the GPS systems could help, Stegers thinks. ‘They can develop techniques that can detect this.’ This could particularly help against GPS jamming, but it becomes more difficult for spoofing. ‘That is quite difficult to detect. If the accuracy decreases, this is a clear signal. But that can simply be seen too late and then your aircraft can be in a different position than you are actually in.’
