Disruption of civilian aviation over the Baltic due to Russian jamming
From
Aviation HQ@2:292/854 to
All on Mon Apr 29 20:39:40 2024
For months, the GPS navigation system of aircraft above and around the Baltic Sea has been disrupted by equipment in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. That never led to major problems, until now: airline Finnair will no longer fly to the second largest city in Estonia for a month because a safe landing is no longer possible.
"To fly to Tartu airport (Estonia's second largest city, ed.), a GPS signal is used," Finnair announced. "The GPS interference, which is quite common in the area, affects the usability of this method, hindering the approach and landing. Last week, two Finnair flights had to return to Helsinki after GPS interference prevented the approach to Tartu." Until the end of May, Finnair will therefore no longer fly to Tartu. In the meantime, another approach method is being sought that does not require a GPS signal.
The disruption of the GPS signal has been a problem in the border region between Europe and Russia for some time, but the problems have increased significantly since December. The disruption is caused by a "jammer". This is electronic equipment that interferes with the radio signals of navigation systems that work with satellites, such as GPS. According to various observations, the source of this disruption is located in Russian territory. Electronic warfare is part of Russia's flexing of its muscles against Europe.
--- DB4 - 20230201
* Origin: AVIATION ECHO HQ (2:292/854)
From
Aviation HQ@2:292/854 to
All on Tue Jun 25 00:17:45 2024
Last weekend, the cabin of a Korean Air Boeing 737 MAX 8 lost pressure during a flight from Seoul to Taiwan, after which the aircraft had to descend quickly and then turn around. Several passengers were injured.
Korean Air KE189, a MAX 8 with registration HL8352, took off from Incheon International Airport near Seoul to Taichung International Airport, on the west coast of Taiwan, on Saturday afternoon around 5 p.m. for a planned journey of more than two hours.
After about fifty minutes, while the aircraft was flying over the Korean island of Jeju, an alarm went off in the cockpit about a loss of cabin pressure. The pilots responded immediately by descending sharply, from 30,000 to 30,000 feet in 15 minutes. They also decided to return to Seoul in consultation with air traffic control.
The cabin crew abruptly stopped the meal service while the oxygen masks came down from the panels. The large pressure difference due to the rapid descent led to a lot of physical discomfort among the passengers, with nosebleeds and sore ears.
After the safe arrival at Incheon, thirteen of the 125 passengers had to undergo hospital treatment; none of them suffered serious injuries.
Korean provided overnight accommodation for the passengers and deployed another aircraft the next morning, again a Boeing 737 MAX 8, registration HL8351, which flew to Taiwan without any problems. The airline apologized profusely to customers and promised to investigate the cause of the defect.
The incident comes at a painful time for Boeing from a publicity perspective. Also last weekend, US prosecutors recommended that the Justice Department in Washington sue the manufacturer over the two fatal crashes involving MAX 8 aircraft in 2018 and 2019, which left 346 dead.
Boeing is said to have violated the terms of a settlement on the case in 2021. The company then agreed to pay $2.5 billion in compensation to the surviving relatives. In exchange, any criminal charges would be dropped after three years, provided Boeing complied with a number of provisions.
The ministry recently came to the conclusion that this did not happen. “Boeing failed throughout its operation to implement an ethics program designed to detect and prevent violations of U.S. anti-fraud regulations.” The manufacturer denies that it has not adhered to the conditions. Outgoing CEO Dave Calhoun acknowledged last week during a hearing in the US Senate that his company had made major mistakes, but added that Boeing has learned from its mistakes.
--- DB4 - 20230201
* Origin: AVIATION ECHO HQ (2:292/854)