False GPS signal surge makes life hard for pilots

False GPS signals that deceive on-board plane systems and complicate the work of airline pilots are surging near conflict zones, industry employees and officials said. A ground collision alert sounds in the cockpit, for instance, even though the plane is flying at high altitude -- a phenomenon affecting several regions and apparently of military origin. This includes the vicinity of Ukraine following the Russian invasion two years ago, the eastern Mediterranean and the air corridor running above Iraq, according to pilots and officials interviewed by AFP. Disruptions which were previously limited to jamming preventing access to signals from geolocation satellites are now also taking a more dangerous form making it difficult to counter spoofing. This sees a plane receive false coordinates, times and altitudes. By comparing this data to the geographical maps in its memory banks, its systems can conclude there is imminent danger ahead, Thierry Oriol, a Boeing 777 pilot and member of the SNPL, the main French pilots' union, told AFP. "There were some untimely alarms ordering people to pull back as far as possible on the stick and apply full power to avoid an obstacle, while the plane was in cruise... and in any case no mountain reaches so high," explained Oriol. He also mentioned an incident "departing from Beirut where the plane thought it was at the level of the Alps, at 10,000 feet" above sea level. The problem, explained a manager at a European airline speaking on condition of anonymity, is that this adulterated information enters the navigation system and can cause false alerts hours afterwards as the flight nears its destination.<br/>