Huge military exercise could jam GPS for small planes flying in the Southeast

[Fansome]

Huge military exercise could jam GPS for small planes flying in the Southeast, FAA says

By Hayley Fowler
January 16, 2020 06:58 PM

Some pilots could be flying blind in airspace over the Southeast and Caribbean this month, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

A military training exercise attributed to “Carrier Strike Group 4” — part of the U.S. Navy — is expected to jam GPS signals and other navigation systems intermittently from Jan. 16 to 24, the FAA said in a flight advisory Monday.

“GPS testing… may result in unreliable or unavailable GPS signal,” the advisory states.

Navigation from as low as 50 feet above ground up to Flight Level 400 (around 40,000 feet) could be affected, according to an FAA map showing interference testing from a location off the Florida-Georgia coast.

Will this affect motorists or hikers using GPS on the ground? Neither the FAA nor the Department of Defense would say.

The government is required to conduct GPS testing “on occasion,” according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which coordinates with the FAA, U.S. Coast Guard and Department of Defense to plan such events.

“These training and testing activities can involve a number of aircraft, ships and/or other military equipment and up to hundreds of personnel,” the DHS website states.

They’re not easily canceled but can be put on hold for a “safety of life mission” where “GPS navigation is essential” — such as a medical evacuation flight or firefighting mission, according to the DHS.

This also isn’t the first interference test in the Southeast, according to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. A similar interruption in February 2019 sparked concerns from the nonprofit over civil aviation safety.

Rune Duke, the nonprofit’s senior director of airspace, air traffic and aviation security, called the exercise last year “unacceptably widespread and potentially hazardous” at the time.

According to the AOPA, hundreds of reports involving aircraft interference have been recorded during these training exercises.

“We consider the risks to GA aircraft highly concerning,” the AOPA said.

[Pigmeat]

How will it affect our hypersonic tic-tacs, Al? It took the wind out of Putin's combover last week when he found out we were 20 years ahead of the measly short range missle technology he's been hoo-hahing since 2017. I say we buzz the Kremlin and snatch Snowden. Shouldn't be more than half hour round trip.

[Fansome]

If  we snatch him, YOU have to take care of him. He seems like whiner to me.

How will it affect our hypersonic tic-tacs, Al? It took the wind out of Putin's combover last week when he found out we were 20 years ahead of the measly short range missle technology he's been hoo-hahing since 2017. I say we buzz the Kremlin and snatch Snowden. Shouldn't be more than half hour round trip.

[skeezix]

Stop turning off NDBs and ring back LORAN-C or get going on eLORAN.

[Fansome]

I have to say that I am suspicious of this article, as it quotes Raoul Duke.

[Pigmeat]

If  we snatch him, YOU have to take care of him. He seems like whiner to me.

How will it affect our hypersonic tic-tacs, Al? It took the wind out of Putin's combover last week when he found out we were 20 years ahead of the measly short range missle technology he's been hoo-hahing since 2017. I say we buzz the Kremlin and snatch Snowden. Shouldn't be more than half hour round trip.

I was going to have one of our penguin pilots inject him with their weaponized venom and dump him out on the edge of the upper atmosphere. He would make nice fireball for elementary students to spot when reentry takes place. It's all about the kids.

[Josh]

USN as well as the rest of US services know they will have to fight in a gps-degraded battlefield if we face off with Russia and/or China, so best to get your stuff tested before you need it.

[JimIO]

Don't do a search for pence pompeo end times...   

~

[redhat]

Don't do a search for pence pompeo end times...   

~

Its awfully dark and gloomy in that cave of yours, isn't it?

+-RH

[Pigmeat]

No, it's quite enlightening and money saving.  He's not chump enough to send jackleg "End of The World" preachers his money. You can save big bucks after you figure out they're full of it. I saw the "Those Bible thumpin' assholes doesn't know anymore than the kids in special-ed" light around eight. How about you, Jim?

Of course, that didn't include Earnest Angely. He was pure entertainment. He came on just before "Lance Link:Secret Chimp" and made about as much sense.

[JimIO]

"Its awfully dark and gloomy in that cave of yours, isn't it?"

If you think what I said is gloomier than what Josh said you must have done what I said don't do. You can't fix problems until you know they exist.

~

[redhat]

For the record I did not...don't really care.  What does any of this have to with the original post about gps outages.

I come here to get away from all the crap on other sites and the media.  Please keep your doom and gloom, and your politics to yourself please.

+-RH

[JimIO]

Redhat and Chris, understood   

[QRP]

A problem that also occurs elsewhere...

https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/security/2018/11/pilots-warned-jamming-finnmark

[Pigmeat]

A problem that also occurs elsewhere...

https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/security/2018/11/pilots-warned-jamming-finnmark

I had a friend who was in charge of RFI enforcement and detection on the air bands in the Atlanta-Buffalo corridor in the late 90's/ early 2000's for the FAA. He said their two biggest problems were "fake controllers", they wanted to talk to planes up and down the corridor, and people with laser pointers near airports. His guys felt the about the same as we do about the FCC but for different reasons. They showed up twice a year and wouldn't help out.