Pilots at American Airlines are reporting jams to navigation systems while flying near Egypt, the union for the airline’s pilots told members.
According to the Allied Pilots Association, pilots are reporting “GPS jamming and spoofing” on flights from Philadelphia International Airport to Doha, Qatar. Pilots operating the routes “may experience interference” that causes an aircraft to turn off course and corrupts maps, the union said.
Dennis Tajer, spokesperson for the Allied Pilots Association, said the jamming causes the airplane to “not maintain its route.” It’s a problem where airspaces are critical to maintain for international agreements.
According to American Airlines, the air carrier has communicated with its pilots about GPS signal disruption — location agnostic — and has procedures in place to mitigate risk, which includes the use of high-quality, ground-based navigational aids.
“We have not experienced any operational disruption or significant safety concerns related to GPS signal interference,” an American Airlines spokesperson said in an email. “Still, we closely monitor any possible safety or security issues and maintain robust backup systems and safeguards.”
American said it is also “regularly in touch” with other operators, aircraft manufacturers and the U.S. government regarding active and potential security risks and threats around the world, including the issue of GPS interference.
GPS interferences have been reported globally, according to Reuters, and there has been a rise since last year. The “jams” occur when a frequency-transmitting device tries to block or interfere with radio communications, usually by broadcasting stronger signals from the ground than satellite-based signals in the air, Reuters reported.
Tajer explained it as if a pilot was on a path, “...then suddenly the airplane is unable to calculate that you’re on the right path ... it’s insidious,” he said.
The Federal Aviation Administration works with international civil aviation authorities to address GPS spoofing and jamming by sharing information and issuing “notices to air missions” to inform pilots about potential disruptions to navigation systems, an FAA spokesperson stated in an email, noting such a notice was issued around Jordan on May 5.
Pilots are being asked to document any operational problems experienced. Ed Sicher, president of the Allied Pilots Association, has also formed an as-needed committee to talk to airline, labor, manufacturer and regulatory stakeholders in the U.S. and internationally to develop a plan to deal with these situations.
Recently, Estonia accused Russia of jamming airplane signals in airspace above the Baltic states, which came after Finnair decided to pause flights to Tartu in eastern Estonia due to the issue. These flights are now set to return in June, according to The Associated Press.
