During the massive geomagnetic superstorm of May 10–13, 2024, something quietly terrifying happened in European airspace: airplanes appeared to jump hundreds of kilometers across the sky.Not physically — digitally. The jets were fine. The pilots were fine. But the GPS-derived tracking layer that aviation relies on briefly lost its grip on reality.
TL;DR — Solar Storm “Teleportation”
- The May 2024 geomagnetic superstorm disrupted the ionosphere over Europe.
- GPS/GNSS positioning errors spiked, creating false aircraft locations in tracking broadcasts.
- Some aircraft appeared to “jump” hundreds of km on screens (not in real life).
- A study analyzed ~700 million ADS-B messages from ~18,000 aircraft.
- On May 11, an X5.8 solar flare coincided with the worst anomalies.
- No accidents occurred — but stronger storms could stress aviation safety layers.
What “Teleporting Airplanes” Really Means
Modern air traffic management uses multiple layers: conventional radar near airports, pilot visual awareness, onboard instruments, and a critical digital layer called ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast).
ADS-B is a short radio broadcast sent by aircraft about once per second, reporting a plane’s GPS-derived position to air-traffic systems and nearby aircraft. If GPS is wrong, ADS-B can report a position that looks real — but isn’t.
That’s the nightmare: the aircraft stays on course, but the digital map lies.
The May 2024 Superstorm Broke the Sky’s “Digital Nervous System”
Researchers from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) analyzed the Mother’s Day storm (May 10–13, 2024) using aviation surveillance data across Europe. They examined more than 700 million ADS-B messages from about 18,000 aircraft to track anomalies.
Their conclusion: the storm produced significant GPS positioning errors and data gaps for days. The problem was especially acute on May 11, when an X5.8 solar flare hit Earth and coincided with abrupt “jump” behavior in aircraft position messages.
During the flare window, researchers reported widespread degradation in satellite-receiver links, with failures particularly pronounced across parts of Europe’s air traffic domain. In plain terms: the sky didn’t become unsafe because planes lost control — it became unsafe because the systems that tell us where everything is became unreliable.
(Illustrative research figure; see sources below.)
Sources: Space Weather (AGU) — “The Impact of the 2024 Mother’s Day Storm on Aircraft Surveillance Across Europe” · SpaceWeather.com summary
Why GPS Fails During Solar Storms
Geomagnetic storms dump energy into Earth’s upper atmosphere and scramble the ionosphere — the region that radio signals must cross. GPS/GNSS signals can be delayed, refracted, or degraded by ionospheric turbulence, creating position errors and temporary signal loss.
Solar flares can add another punch: intense X-ray and radio emissions can directly interfere with navigation signals on the sunlit side of Earth, stacking failure modes on top of each other.
Were Flights in Danger?
Aviation safety is built on layers. ADS-B is only one layer. Conventional radar remains available around many airport regions, pilots retain control, and procedures exist for degraded navigation environments.
But the lesson is not “everything is fine.” The lesson is: we were lucky. A stronger and longer storm could create wider outages and more persistent confusion — especially in high-traffic corridors.
Today’s Strange Sounds Digest
- The Moon is crooked: Chang’e-6 far-side samples may support a huge ancient impact explanation.
- Comet 6AC4721: a new Kreutz sungrazer discovered, with a very close solar pass expected April 4, 2026.
- Kamchatka snow apocalypse: record snow buries towns and turns streets into tunnels.
- 6,000-year-old Texas cave art: ritual imagery older than cities, writing, and spreadsheets.
- Walrus vs fireworks: officials canceled celebrations so an Arctic walrus could rest.
- Bandcamp bans AI music: a rare platform drawing a hard line.
- UVB-76 doomsday radio played Swan Lake: either a test, a prank, or something weirder.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Did airplanes really teleport during the solar storm?
- No. The aircraft stayed on their real flight paths. The “teleportation” happened in GPS-derived tracking data, making aircraft appear displaced on screens.
- What system showed the wrong locations?
- The anomalies were observed in ADS-B messages, which broadcast aircraft positions derived from GPS/GNSS.
- Why did the May 2024 storm cause so many errors?
- The geomagnetic storm disturbed the ionosphere for days. On May 11, a powerful X-class solar flare added additional interference, worsening GPS reliability.
- Was air traffic control blind?
- Not completely. Conventional radar and other aviation safety layers remained available, especially around airports. But the event exposed how fragile satellite-dependent tracking can be during extreme space weather.
- Could a stronger solar storm ground flights?
- Potentially. A more intense or longer-lasting storm could cause wider navigation outages, more persistent tracking errors, and operational restrictions in high-traffic airspace.
Read the Full Edition on Substack
This article is an excerpt from today’s Strange Sounds newsletter. The full edition includes the sungrazing comet, the Moon’s far-side mystery, walruses canceling fireworks, and Swan Lake on Russia’s doomsday radio.
👉 Read the complete edition:
A Sun-Skimming Comet, Walruses vs Fireworks & Swan Lake on the Doomsday Radio
🛰️ Strange Sounds is reader-supported.
If you value independent reporting on strange phenomena and quiet signals, you can support the archive: PayPal or Donorbox.
📰 Subscribe for daily chaos
Get the Strange Sounds newsletter — a curated digest of natural disasters, weird science, and the planet quietly updating itself.
👉 Subscribe on Substack
