Im westpacific and in south china sea disruptions in air traffic are currently being reported again and again. Accordingly, there are currently failures GPS as well as disturbances in radio traffic from airplanes.
Triggers for the failures are said to be Chinese warships who are in the region and expanding their presence there. The Australian Airline Qantas Airways has already instructed its pilots on how to react to the disturbances.
Should there be corresponding failures in the radio traffic or the GPS-Signal come, the pilots should continue their assigned flight path and report disruptions immediately. So far, according to Qantas, it has been closed no security incidents came.
GPS jamming warning
The International Pilots Association (IFALPA) already had in early March from such GPS jamming warned. In the document as well warships blamed for the disruptions in the Pacific.
“The loss of GPS signal is no security issuebecause planes other navigation systems on board that are more reliable and robust,” said University of Adelaide electromagnetic wave scientist Samuel Drake to Australian Aviation.
But should the Chinese military VHF frequencies hijacking aircraft and contacting pilots this way should be “checked carefully,” explains Drake. The two VHF or UKW frequencies 123.45 and 121.5 MHz are reserved for special communication in aviation.
The former will be for air-to-air communications used between pilots, for example to warn each other of turbulence. Second will for urgent notification used.
GPS faulty in Finland
Last year in March there was similar GPS failures in the Russian-Finnish border. Similar signal failures also occurred in the airspace near the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad Oblast, located between Poland and Lithuania.
At that time, the Lithuanian airline Transaviabaltika had to 18 flights between Helsinki and Savonlinna due to GPS interference cancel. In fact, Savonlinna Airport is located near the Finnish-Russian border and has: no alternative navigational instruments.
Back then there was 2 possible explanations for the GPS failures: Either one electromagnetic solar storm or Russia. It is considered likely that the jamming of Russia ran out of. However, it is considered unlikely that civil aviation was the target of this jamming attack.
