Flights to Middle East losing signal; potential for major disaster? DGCA warning

NEW DELHI: DGCA has issued a warning to all Indian airlines as incidents of loss of GPS signal are becoming common for aircraft carrying passengers. There have been recent reports of some commercial aircraft losing GPS signals while reaching the Middle East. DGCA has come out with a warning as part of safety precautions due to this situation.

The aviation industry has recently been facing uncertainty due to such problems with the Global Navigation Satellite System that controls the movement of aircraft. Last September, there was a situation where the GPS signal was lost after several commercial flights came close to Iran. With this, a plane entered the Iranian airspace without permission. Suspicions are also raised whether spoofing is behind the loss of GPS signal. The pilots' union and airlines came forward expressing concern as more incidents were reported.

Spoofing the reason?

Aircraft flying over parts of the Middle East will initially receive a fake GPS signal. This signal system fools the aircraft's onboard system. With this, the navigation system of the plane will be completely messed up.

Several incidents have been reported in northern Iraq and near Erbil in Azerbaijan. It is not yet clear who is behind this. Jamming and spoofing are believed to occur as military electronic warfare systems are deployed in these areas.