EASA WARNS OF POTENTIAL GLOBAL SATELLITE NAVIGATION SYSTEM PROBLEMS

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has issued a Safety Information Bulletin (SIB 2022-02) warning of an increasing likelihood of problems with the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) in the current context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Four main geographic areas are identified where GNSS signal loss, interference, and (potential) signal spoofing have become more active:

▪ Kaliningrad region, the surrounding Baltic Sea and neighboring states;

▪ Eastern Finland;

▪ Black Sea;

▪ Eastern Mediterranean region near Cyprus, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria and Israel, as well as northern Iraq.

The effects of GNSS jamming and/or possible signal spoofing have been experienced by aircraft at various stages of flight, in some cases resulting in re-routing or even re-destination due to failure to complete a safe landing procedure. Under current conditions, it is impossible to predict GNSS failures and their consequences. The extent of the problems arising from such an outage would depend on the extent of the area concerned, the duration and phase of flight of the affected aircraft.

The aforementioned bulletin provides mitigation actions to be taken by national aviation authorities, air navigation service providers, air carriers and other aircraft operators to reduce potential threats to flight safety.

Air carriers, aircraft operators should:

(a) Ensure that flight crews report any observed disturbances, degradation or abnormal performance (jamming and/or possible tampering) of GNSS equipment or associated avionics to the air traffic controller without delay;

(b) assess the operational risks and limitations associated with the loss of aircraft GNSS capabilities, including other systems installed on the aircraft that use GNSS signals;

c) Ensure that operations in the affected areas take into account the operational limitations set out in the Minimum Equipment List (MEL) resulting from an aircraft with an inoperable radio navigation system;

(d) Ensure that flight crews and relevant operations personnel:

• aware of possible GNSS interference and/or possible spoofing;
• check the position of the aircraft using normal navigational aids when flying close to the affected areas;
• checked for the availability of navigational aids necessary for the intended route and for the approach;
• would be prepared to return to normal arrival procedures if necessary and would inform air traffic controllers in such event

(e) During the flight planning and execution phase, ensure that alternative conventional arrival and approach procedures are available (ie, an aerodrome in the affected area with only a GNSS approach procedure should not be considered as a destination or alternate route).

We remind you about the obligation according to Commission Regulation (EU) no. 376/2014 to report events affecting flight safety.

You can report using your organization’s incident reporting system.
If you are a private person, you can report the incident on the portal https://e2.aviationreporting.eu/reporting or by filling out the form on the TKA page https://tka.lt/pranesk-apie-ivyki/