Commercial pilots have raised concern over an increasing number of “GPS Spoofing” incidents, during which they are sent bogus signals while flying.
Aviation officials and regulators have said that spoofed Global Positioning System signals are spreading beyond active conflict zones, and have seen a recent surge – resulting in more than 1,000 flights being affected every day in August.
GPS spoofing refers to the deliberate transmission of fake signals aimed at manipulating the perceived location of a receiver, according to SkAI Data Services.
Such manipulation causes the receiver to erroneously believe it is situated in a different location than its actual position. However, GPS spoofing differs from GPS jamming, which involves the disruption of GPS signals, thereby preventing the receiver from determining its location altogether.
Confusing navigation and safety systems has been known to be used tactically in war zones including the Middle East and Ukraine to ward off drones and missiles.
But, according to The Wall Street Journal – which cited pilots and aviation experts – attacks began affecting a large number of commercial flights about a year ago.
The number of flights affected daily has surged from a few dozen in February to more than 1,100 in August, according to analyses from SkAI Data Services and the Zurich University of Applied Sciences.
Christopher Behnam, a retired Boeing captain at United Airlines, said he frequently encountered GPS interference flying into the Middle East.
“We are trained for these things, so you stay calm and you just follow the procedure,” Behnam told the WSJ. However he said that, in certain circumstances, such attacks could be “very, very alarming.”
As a result of the increased attacks airlines and aircraft manufacturers are now working with regulators, including the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to develop short-term workarounds and longer-term fixes.
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