Controllers, who are trying to manage air traffic safely with insufficient equipment and limited personnel, are now struggling with the war that is ongoing around the island of Cyprus. High-tech weapons and security devices used in conflicts are causing problems in the GPS system; both pilots and air traffic controllers are experiencing difficulties, Cem Kapisiz, Head of Board of Directors of the Air Traffic Control Union said.
Pointing out that countries use signal jammers for defensive purposes, Kapısız said that these devices affect aircraft landing filter. This causes aircrafts, which are exposed to signal jammers during landing, to observed that they are in a different position.
Kapısız underlined that the problems at Ercan Airport should be resolved by the government swiftly so that the controllers can concentrate on signal jammers sufficiently.
“Signal jammers are deployed around the island”
“Unfortunately, these jammers are deployed around our island.” Kapısız was cited as saying, and added that the countries involved in wars use jammer devices.
Emphasizing that GPS used for defense purposes not only prevent weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles, but also disrupt all existing signals to be filtered. Kapısız said, “the planes arriving at Ercan Airport experience problems because of these jammers.”
“The plane perceives itself in another region because its signal is broken.”
Explaining that aircrafts observe themselves in different regions when exposed to signal blockers during landing, Kapısız said, that “Aircraft fly to Ercan, but the system shows it in Gaziantep, or, even though the plane is not actually close to the ground, due to signal jammers the aircraft gets a warning as if it is about to crash into the ground”.
Kapısız pointed out that since planes give such warnings, they cannot be sure whether they are really in the position of the warning, especially in foggy weather or during night time. “Even if the plane does not normally see the outside due to foggy weather, it completes its landing by receiving all the information from the electronic environment. But when the plane receives such a warning, it seems like it is really falling to the ground on radar” he said.
