In a jam

In May 2024, Air Journey, a travel company that offers escorted self-flying expeditions, launched its first journey to Eurasia—a region with limited tourist traffic and even fewer owner-flown aircraft. This 40-day self-flying adventure took six aircraft (a Cessna Citation Mustang, two M2s, a CJ3+, and two Embraer Phenom 300s) and 12 adventurers on a journey of a lifetime across several of the “stan” countries. As director of flight operations and journey director for the trip, I flew right seat on the first airplane of each leg, a Citation M2.

We departed Quebec City, Canada, for a fast crossing through Greenland and Iceland before enjoying three days in Prague, Czech Republic. We wandered on foot through charming cobblestone streets, making our way to Prague Castle amid the stunning architecture of the city. After a relaxing stay at a private olive-farm villa turned boutique hotel on the Adriatic Sea in Croatia, we flew over Turkey on our way to our next destination: Tbilisi, Georgia.

Our flight through Turkey and over the Black Sea was one of the most interesting experiences we have had as pilots. This region is known for frequent GPS jamming and spoofing (possibly due to geopolitical reasons). We were well-prepared and briefed on the likelihood of encountering these issues during our flight. Nonetheless, the first time you experience GPS jamming for hundreds of miles in a foreign country, with Ukraine to the north and Iran to the south, makes for a high stakes and unforgettable flight.

The first hint is a yellow crew alerting system message saying “ADS-B OUT FAIL” (as ADS-B needs GPS to transmit the position); then you get a “GPS NOT USED” message on the primary flight display when the Garmin G3000 is using DME/DME for positioning. Once you lose GPS and DME/DME is not available, you get other CAS messages such as “TERRAIN FAIL” and “UNABLE RNP,” and all the numbers and information that are normally magenta become yellow. One even more interesting data point was the wind display on the PFD—it showed a crosswind of 242 knots in yellow. A quick scroll to the GPS status page shows “GPS NOT READY” and no satellite displayed on the satellite report page.

Seeing “DR” for “dead reckoning” in the middle of each screen quickly became the new normal during this flight. As a pilot, while looking at the map, you tell yourself, As long as we maintain a heading of 090, we should be good to go. All jokes aside, we had prepared as thoroughly as possible. We took extra steps, coordinating with the supervisor of Turkey’s Ankara Control Center to ensure constant radar coverage in case vectors were needed en route. We also reached out to Tbilisi Control to ensure a smooth handoff between Turkish and Georgian airspace.

With thousands of flights over Turkey daily and the frequent GPS jamming and spoofing, controllers are adept at handling these situations. When you report a “loss of GPS capability” to ATC, they ask if you would like vectors. While the obvious answer is yes, controllers ask because larger, long-range aircraft are equipped with inertial navigation systems (INS). INS uses accelerometers and gyroscopes to determine the aircraft’s position, velocity, and orientation without relying on external signals like GPS. This system provides accurate navigation information and is especially useful when GPS signals are unreliable or unavailable. Unfortunately, Citations and Phenoms do not have an INS system onboard.

Before this flight, we practiced tracking inbound and outbound VOR radials to stay on the airways. We were also equipped with iPad satellite receivers that can connect to the GLONASS Russian satellite system, which are less susceptible to jamming and spoofing. Additionally, in preparation for the trip, we consulted with Textron and Embraer about using the DME/DME capability on the G3000. This feature allows the G3000 to continuously update the aircraft’s location by triangulating distances from multiple DMEs in the region. Textron opted to include this feature in G3000 systems. Both the Citation M2s and the CJ3+ on our journey were equipped with it, and it worked exceptionally well, ensuring we remained on the airways as planned.

During this flight, one of the Phenom 300s in our group displayed a position in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of São Tomé and Príncipe—clearly not its actual location. Initially, we suspected spoofing but later realized that the “DR” mode had defaulted the airplane’s position to 00 degrees north latitude and 000 degrees west longitude on the multifunction display. Fortunately, the weather was clear, allowing us to focus solely on the unusual behavior of our avionics. It made for a very interesting flight. We gradually regained GPS2 after crossing into Georgia. With the satellite page up on the G3000, we could see one satellite signal coming in blue, then a second one, a third one, then they quickly became green while more satellites showed up on the page. We flew the arrival with the message “both on GPS2.” GPS1 came back the same as we were receiving vectors for the ILS approach.

We spent three days in Tbilisi, Georgia—an amazing city rich in cultural heritage with influences from Persian and Ottoman rule. It shared similarities with European capital cities in its charm and architectural beauty. From there, we flew to Yerevan, Armenia, which featured beautiful scenery, welcoming people, and a vibrant city life. In an Armenian monastery built into the side of a mountain, we experienced an ethereal moment as a choir of women sang in a room, their voices creating a surround-sound effect that felt like angels were singing directly to us.

We continued on to stops including Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Turkey. With a total of 15,000 nautical miles over 40 days, it was an unforgettable adventure.

Guillaume Fabry is director of flight operations and journey director at Air Journey.