MUMBAI: Aircraft manufacturer Boeing recently issued airline-specific bulletins alerting pilots to a long list of possible problems the cockpit could be besieged with at lower altitudes if 5G signals from a transmission station near a US airport ever happen to hazardously interfere with those of an aircraft instrument that measures accurately the plane’s height over ground.
Air India, the only Indian carrier that flies to the US, operates the route with Boeing wide-body aircraft. Other aircraft manufacturers too have issued similar documents, but the 5G effects vary. For instance: Airbus document states: “On A350 and A380 aircraft, 5G interference on radio altimeters are negligible, hence the absence of cockpit effects.”
How do pilots read this?
A senior B777 commander said: “Boeing has listed everything that could possibly go wrong in the cockpit if 5G interference ever happens…The message pilots get is, don’t attempt low-visibility landings, the radio altimeter isn’t reliable. Also, when landing in good weather, stay extra alert after descending 2,500ft and be ready for a manual landing.”
