Airlines grapple with rise in conflicts

With no-fly zones expanding and onboard warning systems being interfered with, costs and stress are on the rise

- By Jonathan Yerushalmy

The first indication that something was wrong came when the clock on the flight deck began to change time.

The aircraft was cruising thousands of metres above Israel and as the crew noticed the error, they checked their GPS signal. The plane’s internal instruments showed it was flying at just 500 metres, well below the cruising altitude of 11,500 metres they should have been at.

Seconds later, alarms began to sound and lights flashed throughout the cockpit.

“Our terrain avoidance system sprang into action, warning us that we were heading for a collision with the mountainous terrain,” the plane’s pilot said. Over years of flying, it had been drilled into the crew to pull back on the controls when such an alarm sounded, but on this occasion the pilot took no action.

The crew were prepared for their system to make “spurious” warnings and knew from experience they were still flying at a safe altitude.

The pilot involved - who works on long-haul routes for a UK airline - said they had experienced GPS spoofing, one of many growing risks facing airlines amid a fracturing of global diplomacy.

Speaking to the Guardian on condition of anonymity, the pilot called the incident last year unsettling, but stressed the flight was never at risk. However, they expressed concern that such an event only makes pilots more desensitised to the internal systems they have relied on for decades.

“You are meant to feel uncomfortable in your inaction and that is exactly how I felt.”