Landing without GPS - what options do pilots have? Captain Todor Penev to FACT

Can the navigation system of an airplane fail and what is done if this happens… Captain Todor Penev - a former pilot, instructor and aviation expert - spoke to FACT.

- Captain Penev, how would you comment on the situation in which the GPS on the plane of EC President Ursula von der Leyen, who visited Bulgaria, was jammed. Is it possible?
- All kinds of things are possible in today's world, but now the situation does not indicate that the GPS was jammed. And this is because there are no other planes that at the same time complained that they had problems, that they had no connection, that there was jamming of the GPS system.

- What conclusion does this lead you to then?
- And one more thing. As can be seen from flightradar, where the flight of the plane can be monitored, because flightradar uses the same GPS system, the continuous movement of the plane is reflected there. So, in my opinion, this is some kind of failure in the systems of the plane itself. This electronics - flyback, which pilots use in modern aircraft, you can imagine it as an iPad, an electronic device that includes navigation systems.

- After the problem was discussed, a recording of the pilot's conversation with the tower that monitors the plane in our airspace appeared in the media. And what do you hear?
- Yes, I also heard the pilots' conversations with the tower and it is clear from them that they had a failure in the GPS system and a problem with the messages during this approach. It is clear from the recording that the pilots themselves requested another “navigation instrument“ during the approach to lane 30. This orbit that they were given was about 7-8 minutes. After that, they performed a normal approach to lane 30 and landed normally, without any worries or disturbances. So for me, this is all fake news.

- There is no conspiracy in the whole situation, because Russia was also involved…
- There is no conspiracy. Otherwise, a completely normal situation for our country, in which various fictional generals comment on things that they understand nothing about. I'm going back to the fact that my main theory, after listening to the recording between the pilots and the air traffic control, is that there is a problem on board the plane with the system that guides them to the airport. In this case, they used a different type of navigation system and landed.

- What is the alternative for the pilots in such a situation?
- In principle, if someone wants to jam the GPS system, they will jam all frequencies. If someone really decided to do something, they will do it on a large scale. But in this case, simply during one of the most elementary approaches of the plane, the GPS system is blocked. At the same time, another navigation system was used. It is absolutely frivolous to define it as some kind of terrible incident.

- But what is the alternative for the pilots when such a problem occurs?
- The pilots have different options. One is another type of approach, if the weather permits, as was the case in this case. Pilots can not use an instrument approach at all, but switch to a visual continuation of the flight and land visually. If there is already some serious problem and the airport is closed, because it must be borne in mind that the system itself is also self-tested, so if there is such a large deviation, the system itself will notify the pilots and the flight controller. They will see that the system is not working and the approach can be immediately terminated by the air traffic controller himself. He can offer them to perform a visual landing, if they cannot, he will offer them to fly to Sofia, to Varna, to Burgas. Look, in general, all this with the jammed GPS of Ursula von der Leyen's plane is stupid news, falsely composed news. I do not know who has an interest in doing this. This "news" is pure TERRORISM, instilling fear in the Bulgarian and European population. It is also additional stress in the pilot staff of the aviation operators who fly over our territory. And this traffic is not small at all and brings additional revenue to our state.