A bloc spokesperson had accused Moscow of “blatant interference” and of subjecting the aircraft to electronic jamming.
Flight-tracking website Flightradar24 has refuted allegations made by several media outlets and EU officials that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s jet was subjected to GPS signal jamming.
The aircraft that carried the EU Commission chief to Bulgaria on Sunday showed good GPS signal quality along its entire route, the monitoring service wrote on X on Monday. The flight arrived only nine minutes later than scheduled, the service said, noting that some media reports erroneously claimed that “the aircraft was in a holding pattern for 1 hour.”
“The aircraft’s transponder reported good GPS signal quality from take-off to landing,” it added.
The alleged GPS issues were first reported by the Financial Times, which cited unnamed sources who claimed the pilots experienced signal blackouts so severe that they had to use “paper maps” for landing. The sources also suggested Russia was to blame for the alleged incident. Reached for comment by the FT, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the reported allegations were untrue.
The claims were made official on Monday. Both the EU and Bulgarian authorities pointed the finger at Moscow.
“We can indeed confirm that there was GPS jamming, but the plane landed safely in Bulgaria. We have received information from the Bulgarian authorities that they suspect that this was due to blatant interference by Russia,” EU Commission spokeswoman Arianna Podesta told a press conference in Brussels.
The Bulgarian government also appeared to corroborate the claims the pilots had to rely on alternate navigation tools while landing at Plovdiv International Airport.
“During the flight carrying European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to Plovdiv, the satellite signal transmitting information to the plane’s GPS navigation system was neutralized,” the government said in a statement. “To ensure the flight’s safety, air control services immediately offered an alternative landing method using terrestrial navigation tools,” it added.
Image credit: Getty Images
Lol, the Financial Times becomig Pravda.
FlightRadar24 doesn’t lie.
From- Hal Turner’s website; (REMEMBER: Solar Flare activitiy is at an all-yime high, and can block GPS satellite signals…)
RUSSIA IS ACCUSED OF JAMMING THE E.U. PRESIDENT’S PLANE
Flying to Bulgaria to talk EU defense, Ursula von der Leyen’s plane lost all GPS on approach to Plovdiv.
The pilot circled for an hour, then ditched the tech and landed manually – with paper maps.
The message from Brussels: this wasn’t a glitch – it was deliberate, and Russia’s likely behind it.
It appears to some people, Putin didn’t just send a message – he turned off the sat-nav of the EU’s top official mid-flight.
If this is the new normal, Brussels might want to pack a compass and paper road maps (i.e. a Road Atlas)
Hal Turner Analysis;
Three things struck me as I got this information:
1) That they are blaming Russia probably means it ISN’T Russia; in my view, the EU pretty much lies about everything. AND;
2) If it __is__ Russia, a whole lot of us had better get a compass and a Road Atlas, AND;
3) Ships had better get a sextant to measure angles between stars and the horizon, a nautical almanac for star positions, and a chronometer to track time. The North Star (Polaris) is used in the Northern Hemisphere to find true north and estimate latitude, while the Southern Cross helps find south in the Southern Hemisphere.
Then everyone had better learn (fast) how to use these things.
I am 63 years old and when I was growing up, there was no such thing as GPS or Cellphones. In order to get somewhere distant, we had to use a Road Atlas with its state and highway maps.
There was no such thing as modern electronics to guide us, step-by-step, from point A to point B or tell you, “In 800 feet, turn left” or “You have arrived at your destination.” We did it the old fashioned way: we got directions, we looked at maps, we stopped and asked someone along the way.
Let me ask you: If GPS went blank today, do you even have a Road Atlas with maps? If you have one, do you know how to use it? Do your kids know? If not, better get to learning and teaching — fast!
I dare say that most young people today, have never even SEEN a real life Compass or a real life Rand McNally Road Atlas, never mind learned how to use them.
Think about that for a moment. All those college kids that think they’re so much smarter than everyone else, don’t even know what a Road Atlas is or how to use one! Compass? Same thing!
Today – Labor Day – it just might be a unique and very helpful thing for us grown-ups to get a Compass and a Road Atlas for the kids and start teaching them how to use it.
If things with the Russia-Ukraine fight go really haywire, there’s a whole slew of modern electronics that may end up permanently on the ash heap. Societies worldwide will be left with – among other things – an entire population of so-called “adults” who have no idea at all how to get around without being told step-by-step, “turn here. For the next eight miles, keep right. Take the next exit . . . .”
Prepare.
For what it’s worth, The Kremlin denies any Russian involvement in navigation failure during von der Leyen’s plane landing ‘Your information is incorrect’ said Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin Spokesman.
It will be helpful to MANY MANY people if you pass this story along. Consider it an act of kindness. There are tremendous numbers of people who have no idea how to read a map; the sooner they learn, the better. Alerting them now gives them a chance to learn now, with no pressure, rather than having to learn on the fly, under duress from GPS being gone.