Yesterday evening it became clear that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (DANS) found a jamming device during a joint operation in one of the capital's districts. It is possible that it could jam planes and interfere with flights.
„A million and two hundred planes pass through our airspace per year. You can find a lot of planes in our space. When we say „aviation“, the most important thing is safety. That is, we must break everything through safety. Yes, there was an impact on GPS signals. However, this has not affected safety“, commented on “This Saturday“ Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Peev.
“Usually, planes fly using GPS navigation. However, when this navigation is compromised for some reason — in this case it was, all services in Bulgaria have reacted adequately. Air traffic controllers report, a system is activated, colleagues from SANS and from CRC — Communications Regulation Commission, react, localize the source and neutralize it accordingly“, he pointed out.
“Planes stop navigating using a satellite system and start using the so-called conventional navigation. Bulgaria is one of the countries that is a leader in aviation and air traffic management. We have navigational aids on the ground that, regardless of satellites and GPS signals, allow the plane to navigate“, the minister explained.
According to him, our air traffic controllers and planes use these aids. They are not alternative, but are the main means of navigation that the state has developed and deployed, so everything is safe in the sky.
„I have no information about the type of devices. They were strong and indeed had an effect on flight control. If there is radiation, there is interference. At the moment when this system was broadcasting, there was a problem with the GPS signal. This happened yesterday and was immediately detected“, explained Georgi Peev.
The Russian plane that flew over Bulgaria
„If a person wants to find a conspiracy somewhere, he can always find it. But let me tell you objectively how a flight over Bulgaria and over the airspace of the European Union is conducted. There are regulations that define it. There is a ban — Regulation 833. It prohibits Russian airlines from taking off, landing and flying over European airspace. There is a derogation. There are cases in which this is permitted — humanitarian missions, firefighting missions, as is the case at the moment“. This was commented by the Minister of Transport regarding the allegations of the former military minister that the Russian plane that flew over the country to help with the fire in Serbia was collecting intelligence information.
„So, if there is such a situation, an application form is submitted. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the institution - the „Consular“ department, which permits these flights together with the „Civil Aviation Administration“, which is in the Ministry of Transport. And this is not a form in which someone writes “Can I fly over your airspace?“, but a large set of information is filled out that is necessary for the issuance of this permission“, he pointed out.
“All this has been done. The flight was permitted because it is to extinguish fires in Serbia. Moreover, these fires are near our territory. You know about the pollution that occurred in Sofia. So we have given the necessary permission in a truly adequate and correct manner. The people, the experts in the Foreign Ministry and in transport, are extremely experienced. After the permit is issued, the airline itself fills out a flight plan and sends it to Brussels“, explained Georgi Peev.
“Do you think that if we have not issued the correct permit, Brussels will approve the flight plan“, he asked.
Earlier, information emerged that there was actually a deviation on one of the radars. Analyst Martin Tabakov published a photo of the fact that at one point, as soon as it entered, the plane in question lost signal and deviated in the direction of Yambol-Bezmer.
“Absolutely false information. These are applications that use passive data, non-radar data. And if this data is compromised, as you can see, this is not a natural trajectory. It does not have such a trajectory“, said the Minister of Transport.
"If a plane deviates from the trajectory assigned to it by the air traffic controller, a special procedure is triggered, according to which it is even possible to carry out a mission in which the plane is intercepted by our fighters. The trajectory was normal, there was no deviation, standard communication and standard flight service were maintained.
I would invite the analyst in question — not as a minister, but as an air traffic controller — and I would show him live how flights are managed, what means of surveillance Bulgaria has", Georgi Peev pointed out.
"I have zero doubt that this plane was used for purposes other than those for which it was approved", he said.
As for whether this plane will return to Russia, Peev pointed out:
"We have not yet received a flight plan. In fact, my colleagues may have received it. This is standard procedure. It has permission in both directions, so when it completes its flight plan and when it passes through the Eurocontrol systems in Brussels, we will service it in the standard way, like all other aircraft. We do not need to give it permission, because it has already been given that. It is normal for it to return".
The drying up of the Danube
"The focus on protecting our nuclear power plant is more important, and together with the Ministry of Energy we are making extremely serious efforts and developing plans in which we can maintain the level in the power plant's channel. We have developed several scenarios and are working on them. I think, however, that my colleagues are the ones who should explain to you more professionally. We are thinking about building a dam that will raise the level in the area of our nuclear power plant, so that the necessary level is maintained and the pumps can work without problems. It is currently being designed and after the design, the specific decision will be made", the minister commented.
Road Safety
"Currently, we have fragmentation between institutions. Each institution processes some data that it uses for some purposes. Many institutions carry out road control — Ministry of Interior, State Administrative Inspectorate, customs, tolls. The global idea of this process is to have one road control. The Ministry of Interior should unite these functions into one, and the data, which is also fragmented, should be united in one center and it should be in the Ministry of Transport. There, the data should be processed adequately and, depending on the needs of a given service, distributed depending on who has what need," commented Georgi Peev.
It is planned to have polygons - probably six in Bulgaria, in which young drivers will be placed in conditions that they have not normally seen on the road - U-turns, aquaplaning, atypical situations that cannot be applied and seen in standard driving and training.