FAA Had to Reroute Air Traffic Due to “Mystery” GPS Interference; “aircraft rely on the wireless bands that are impeded by 5G”

By B.N. Frank

5G warnings and opposition has limited, slowed, and/or stopped deployment including near some U.S. airports due to dangerous interference issues with aviation equipment (see 1, 2, 3, 4). Nevertheless, activation has continued throughout the U.S. which may or may not have caused some recent problems in Texas.

From Ars Technica:

GPS interference caused the FAA to reroute Texas air traffic. Experts stumped.

Dan Goodin

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the cause of mysterious GPS interference that, over the past few days, has closed one runway at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and prompted some aircraft in the region to be rerouted to areas where signals were working properly.

The interference first came to light on Monday afternoon when the FAA issued an advisory over ATIS (Automatic Terminal Information Service). It warned flight personnel and air traffic controllers of GPS interference over a 40-mile swath of airspace near the Dallas-Fort Worth airport. The advisory read in part: “ATTN ALL AIRCRAFT. GPS REPORTED UNRELIABLE WITHIN 40 NM OF DFW.”

A dramatic impact

An advisory issued around the same time by the Air Traffic Control System Command Center, meanwhile, reported the region was “experiencing GPS anomalies that are dramatically impacting” flights in and out of Dallas-Fort Worth and neighboring airports. It went on to say that some of the airports were relying on the use of navigation systems that predated GPS.

GPSjam.org, a website that monitors GPS interference in real time, published this map that showed the specific areas where aircraft were reporting unreliable GPS.

John Wiseman, the operator of GPSjam.org, said on Twitter that the interference appeared to begin around 1 pm local time and ramped up over the next several hours. He provided a time-lapse video that illustrates what he was talking about.

GPS interference around DFW seems to have started around 1900Z – 2000Z/12 PM – 1 PM local time. The ATCSCC advisory was signed t 2151Z/2:51 PM local time if I did my math right. The interference is still going. pic.twitter.com/fjVcZS8iEF

— John Wiseman (@lemonodor) October 18, 2022

A day later, Wiseman reported that not only was the interference continuing, but that aircraft on the ground in the affected region were also unable to receive reliable GPS readings. What’s more, fine-grained tracking of the interference suggested that military operations—the most common source of unintentional interference—weren’t playing a role. Several hours later, the unexplained problems not only continued but had spread to areas near Waco.

High resolution map of GPS interference around Dallas Fort Worth/DFW with sectional chart, including data from 2022-10-18 0000Z through 1600Z. It can be tricky to interpret a higher res map because you might start to see effects of individual aircraft, flight routes and altitudes pic.twitter.com/iSVE7nNlu5

— John Wiseman (@lemonodor) October 18, 2022

As mysteriously as it began, it stops

Then, around 11 pm Dallas time, the interference ended. As mysteriously as the interference began, it had stopped.

Read full article

Of course, interference issues associated with 5G are not isolated to aviation equipment. In 2020, utility companies and associations filed lawsuits against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for not protecting utility infrastructure from potential electrical interference issues with 5G (see 1, 2). Telecom provider, SpaceX has complained that Dish’s 5G satellites will cause interference issues affecting Starlink satellite service. DirecTV and RS Submit have also complained about satellite interference issues. The Department of Defense (DoD) has also been trying to resolve potential 5G network interference issues with military radar. In August, a bipartisan group of senators requested that the FCC reconsider harmful interference risks with associated Ligado’s network before allowing it to be activated. Fortunately. last month Ligado cancelled trial network plans, perhaps because of a report that also warned about interference. Earlier this month another report revealed that the telecom industry was aware of “known RF challenges” with 5G as well.

Additionally, there have been other widely reported issues associated with 5G including poor service (see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9), cybersecurity (see 1, 2), health, and environmental risks (see 1, 2, 3, 4). In fact, recently scientists asked AGAIN for an immediate 5G moratorium due to health and environmental risks!

The numerous problems associated with 5G are clearly NOT going away anytime soon. Nevertheless, the FCC (see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) – who lost a lawsuit for NOT updating RF guidelines which include 5G since 1996 – and other American government and state agencies and committees (see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) have continued to promote and fund 5G deployment and densification (see 1, 2) as well as that of 4G and public Wi-Fi (which also poses known risks).