We started our journey in the afternoon in Narva, saying farewell to our new friends – local aviator Nicolai, and Stefania with her mother, who had guided us through their border town that morning. Before we left, they handed us a small but meaningful parcel: the mobile phone of Anastasia, Stefania’s sister in Luxembourg, who had forgotten it during a recent visit home two weeks earlier. We promised to deliver it back to her once we returned.
Stefania, bright and curious about flying, told us she would one day like to visit Luxembourg herself. We sincerely hope she does – encounters like these remind us how aviation connects people just as much as it connects places.
With the weather front pressing in from the north, there was no time to lose. Our next destination: Warsaw, deep in Poland.
The Challenge of GPS Spoofing
Before departure, Nicolai warned me of something I had only read about: GPS spoofing. Unlike simple jamming, which blocks GPS signals, spoofing actively feeds false position data to the aircraft. For a modern ultralight like my Blackwing 600RG, built in 2024 and entirely GPS-based, this is a real threat.
Estonia had abandoned the use of VORs and NDBs – the traditional but reliable radio beacons pilots once used to navigate – in favour of full satellite navigation. Yet with today’s security environment, there is renewed debate about whether to bring them back. I had prepared for the worst by carrying a small analogue compass and a paper chart: simple, old-fashioned tools that remain invaluable when technology falters.
Onboard, I also carry a Golze Engineering ADL190, which uses the Iridium satellite network to provide weather and positional data. Knowing its inventor, Sebastian Golze, personally, I asked him just a week earlier whether his system could be relied upon during spoofing. His answer was sobering: the Iridium frequencies sit too close to GPS, and his system would also be jammed.
And indeed, as we flew south over Latvia, the dreaded happened. My GPS degraded, satellites dropped away from the display, and navigation warnings lit up. For a few tense minutes, the normally trustworthy glass cockpit was no longer giving me a full picture.
GPS signal unreliable: system switched to Standby Flight Display – navigation no longer trustworthy
But preparation paid off. Alejandro traced our position on the paper map, cross-checking headings while I held our planned track. Flying high at FL100 (10,000 feet) gave us margin – altitude buys time to react – and above the clouds, the Blackwing pressed on smoothly.
For extra reassurance, I carried a personal locator beacon (PLB) kindly loaned by my friend Jos Schwind. Small but powerful, it can broadcast a distress signal via satellite anywhere in the world. Just knowing it was in my flight suit pocket added comfort in skies where technology could not always be trusted.
A Stop in Suwałki – Europe’s Geopolitical Fault Line
Crossing into Poland, we made a short sanitary stop in Suwałki. On the surface, it is an ordinary border town. Yet to defence analysts, the Suwałki Corridor – the narrow strip of land between Belarus and Kaliningrad – is NATO’s most vulnerable choke point. If ever East and West clashed militarily, this is where it would begin. Landing here, even briefly, felt like another Europe at the Edge moment.
Fortunately, behind Suwałki our GPS stabilised again. The signals returned to normal, and navigation was back to its usual precision. The degraded situation had passed, leaving us both relieved and reflective about just how dependent modern aviation has become on invisible satellites.
Arrival in Warsaw
The second leg southwards was calm, with stable weather and smooth air. We touched down at Warsaw Babice (EPBC), the general aviation airfield serving Poland’s capital. Fees were reasonable, but taxiing across its sprawling apron was surprisingly complex for a VFR pilot – a reminder that even small challenges can arise after a long flying day.
We did not refuel that evening. Instead, we secured the Blackwing, ordered a Bolt, and headed directly to our hotel: the Barceló Warsaw Powiśle. This modern hotel, set right by the river, felt like the perfect contrast to the border atmosphere of Narva. That evening we treated ourselves to mocktails by the rooftop pool, watching the sun set over a city alive with energy.
Warsaw struck us immediately as modern, vibrant, and welcoming. After so many days of flying on, landing, and taking off again, we decided to pause here for two nights – to explore Poland’s capital properly, and to enjoy a well-earned rest before continuing south.
