False GPS signal surge makes life hard for pilots

Surging false GPS signals near conflict zones pose danger to airline pilots, prompting industry efforts to counter spoofing.

False GPS signals that deceive on-board plane systems and complicate the work of airline pilots are surging near conflict zones, industry employees and officials told AFP.

A ground collision alert sounds in the cockpit, for instance, even though the plane is flying at high altitude — a phenomenon affecting several regions and apparently of military origin.

This includes the vicinity of Ukraine following the Russian invasion two years ago, the eastern Mediterranean and the air corridor running above Iraq, according to pilots and officials interviewed by AFP.

Disruptions which were previously limited to jamming preventing access to signals from geolocation satellites are now also taking a more dangerous form making it difficult to counter spoofing.

This sees a plane receive false coordinates, times and altitudes.

By comparing this data to the geographical maps in its memory banks, its systems can conclude there is imminent danger ahead, Thierry Oriol, a Boeing 777 pilot and member of the SNPL, the main French pilots' union, told AFP.

"There were some untimely alarms ordering people to pull back as far as possible on the stick and apply full power to avoid an obstacle, while the plane was in cruise... and in any case no mountain reaches so high," explained Mr. Oriol.