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Not to be a jerk, but you would be wrong. GPS spoofing is a growing problem in commercial aviation. So far it has not led to any fatalities, but it has led to a
by aftbit 2y ago
Not to be a jerk, but you would be wrong. GPS spoofing is a growing problem in commercial aviation. So far it has not led to any fatalities, but it has led to a significant number of system malfunctions which degrade the safety features available to pilots.
One example that made the rounds on social media a few months back was a crew flying above 30,000 ft receiving "Terrain - Pull Up!" advisories. They ignored them, because there is no terrain on earth at 30k ft. If that had happened at a lower altitude, they would have likely had to do a terrain escape maneuver, which would definitely be felt by passengers, though it would likely not introduce a lot of additional safety risk.
The real risk comes when pilots begin to doubt that their safety systems are working correctly and thus ignore true warnings. Or when a bungled GPS leads pilots to fly into military airspace and get shot down.
- MichaelZuo 2y agoPilots can be instructed to ignore GPS related warnings and not trust GPS based systems for the one or two hour duration while they are transiting the jammed airspace. Better yet they can be disabled temporarily since presumably the same proof can be shown to the relevant regulators, airline HQ, etc… They aren’t automatons that must obey every single system installed in the plane regardless of how absurd the outputs are.
- askvictor 2y agoYeah, I would guess that a spoofed signal wouldn't be that hard to detect - though you'd presumably need the GPS receiver to be capable of this. A spoofed signal would have to be stronger than the real thing in order to drown it out, no? So as a first guess - if a signal is unreasonably strong, the signal is probably spoofed, so warn the operator.
- Animats 2y agoRead the Ops Group report. It is a very real problem. They explain it clearly. Many highly qualified people are concerned about GPS spoofing. (Ops Group is a professional group for international pilots, flight planners, or, as they say, people who have a callsign or answer the phone "Ops".)
- aftbit 2y agoOf course, but these systems are installed and active with the intention of providing a safety barrier. If they are disabled while transiting jammed airspace, then they are not providing that safety barrier at that time, which is itself a vulnerability. Besides, it is hard to determine when and where jamming will happen, and it can start and stop at any time. Imagine a truck driver trying to bypass their company tracking using a small jammer, and driving down the coastal highway near SFO. Any planes coming in for landing might lose GPS or even worse, get inaccurate results, but only for a moment or two. Is that a problem? It depends on exactly what the plane is doing in that moment and whether everything else is going right.
- amy-petrik-214 2y agoWhen I was a war pilot this was common practice. Shut off radio. You'd know they were going to mess with you in creative and twisted ways. So much simpler to put it on mute. Usually works best in situations where radio silence is also a mission parameter