Airlines grappling with a spike in GPS interference. Experts say it's collateral damage from global conflicts
CBC
Inside the air traffic control tower at Tallinn Airport in Estonia's capital, a team tracks pilots in training as they fly above the Tartu airport, which lies about 200 kilometres south of Tallinn, and about 45 kilometres west of Russia.
As the screen displays the location of the flights underway, a voice comes over the radio asking for permission to descend from the 1,800 metres she is currently flying at, because the GPS signal used for navigation has suddenly disappeared.
"Jammers are working pretty much 24/7," said Mihkel Haug, head of the air traffic control department with Estonian Air Navigation Services.
"We get incident reports every day from pilots. In April, it was more than 600."
Cases of GPS jamming, which is when strong radio signals drown out or interfere with satellite navigation systems, have surged since 2022, after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Incidents have increased in Estonia, which resulted in Finnair temporarily cancelling flights to the city of Tartu because they lost access to GPS before landing.
Reports have also spiked around the Black Sea, which is bordered by six countries, including Ukraine, Turkey and Russia.
While aviation and security experts tell CBC News the jamming is concerning, they say it alone doesn't automatically create dangerous situations, as pilots are able to rely on other navigation aids.
However, there is more worry about the increase in GPS spoofing, which is being seen in Europe and in the Middle East. Spoofing is when fake signals can trick navigation systems into thinking they are somewhere else, potentially directing a plane off course.
Aviation groups say the significant rise in GPS disturbance can pose a safety risk, and the industry is grappling with how to mitigate the challenges that have spiked as result of global conflicts.
In Estonia, Haug says that wherever a pilot reports the GPS navigation system is down, air traffic controllers stay on high alert, tracking the flight closely to make sure it doesn't deviate from its planned route.
In late April, over the course of two evenings, two Finnair flights had to return to Helsinki after their GPS navigation system stopped working and there wasn't a certified alternative navigation system in place for landing. They lost access to their navigation system when they were flying at around 3,600 metres.
Haug says usually when planes descend, the GPS system resumes working, but in this case it didn't happen. At the time, Tartu airport, which is small and has its air traffic control handled remotely by Tallinn, solely relied on GPS navigation for landing approaches.
In both cases, Finnair decided to divert the planes back to Helsinki and shelve the route until additional navigation tools could be put in place.
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