Thousands of British flights have been hit by “extremely dangerous” jamming, suspected to have been carried out by Russia, according to The Sun. The electronic attacks have impacted satellite navigation (satnav), leaving aircraft routes difficult to navigate.
Sometimes the situation became so bizarre that planes had to swerve and dive to avoid “obstacles” that were not there.
309 Ryanair flights and 1,368 Wizz Air planes logged satnav problems in the Baltic region
The Sun said that till the end of March, 2,309 Ryanair flights and 1,368 Wizz Air planes logged satnav problems in the Baltic region.
British Airways, Jet2 and EasyJet flights were also hit. EasyJet said it had procedures to mitigate against GPS issues.
However, Glenn Bradley, from the UK Civil Aviation Authority, said that flying is still the safest form of travel.
“GPS jamming does not directly impact the navigation of an aircraft, and while it’s a known issue, this does not mean an aircraft has been jammed deliberately,” he said in a statement.
Russia is believed to have jammed the satellite signal on an aircraft used by British defense minister
“While operators have mitigations in place to assure continued safe operations, we work closely with other aviation regulators, airlines, and aircraft manufacturers to curb and mitigate any risks posed by jamming and continuously monitor incidents worldwide,” the statement added.
Last month, Russia is believed to have jammed the satellite signal on an aircraft used by British defense minister Grant Shapps to travel from Poland back to Britain.
According to a government source and journalists, the news agency Reuters reported that the GPS signal was interfered with for about 30 minutes while the plane flew close to Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad.