Hong Kong pilots explain how they handle geomagnetic storm risks after Cathay flight diverted

Flight from New York to Hong Kong was diverted to Japan due to geomagnetic storm, but pilots note airlines have guidelines to handle them

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The northern lights, also known as the aurora borealis, seen over Scotland. Geomagnetic storms can cause the phenomena. Photo: AP

Published: 7:01pm, 12 Oct 2024Updated: 1:17am, 14 Oct 2024

The risks that geomagnetic storms pose to planes are minimal provided the aircraft has enough fuel to cope with a longer flight in the event of a re-routing, a Hong Kong aircrew organisation has said after a Cathay flight was diverted due to the space weather event.

The Hong Kong Aircrew Officers Association, a Cathay Pacific Airways’ pilots’ union, noted that airlines had guidelines for handling such disturbances following the city flag carrier’s diversion of a Hong Kong-bound flight from New York on Wednesday to Osaka due to a geomagnetic storm.

A geomagnetic storm is a disturbance of the Earth’s magnetic field triggered by solar activity, which can cause refracted or scattered radio waves that may affect the precision and reliability of GPS navigation.

The flight eventually landed in Hong Kong at 10.27pm on Thursday, taking 17 hours and 17 minutes for the journey from New York, which was one hour and 42 minutes longer than expected.

In a reply to the Post, the pilot union said most airlines monitored the radiation caused by solar events on passengers, crew and aircraft systems, and the earth’s magnetic field deflection would provide protection against most radiation.

But the protection would be reduced in areas near the poles, it added.