Air carrier flight crew reported they experienced GPS jamming flying through the Cairo FIR and missed a frequency change to the adjacent control facility.
Synopsis
Air carrier flight crew reported they experienced GPS jamming flying through the Cairo FIR and missed a frequency change to the adjacent control facility.
Narrative
At cruise; in radar contact with Cairo; we were contacted on guard prior DEESA and told to contact AMMAN on 128.5. We made the switch and were informed that we'd flown through Jordan and Amman without speaking to anyone. Amman asked us to squawk IDENT and confirm our aircraft registration. Upon completion of that were were given direction to switch frequencies to Jeddah control. At the time of contact on guard by Amman the radios were extremely busy and we never heard a call from Cairo to switch frequencies. We were also experiencing GPS jamming so our situational awareness (SA) in terms of location was not at it highest. Cause: Lack of situational awareness due to the amount of chatter on the ATC frequency. Lack of situation awareness due the loss of our GPS and moving map. Suggestion: Sharing the event with other aviators; letting them know how congested the radios will be in that region. Also; informing the pilot group that GPS jamming is common in that region. Be prepared for the jamming and don't let that keep you from maintaining your positional SA. There are three border crossings in the matter of about 15 min. Be prepared for frequency changes.
Second reporter narrative
The following narrative was given to me by my Captain trainee and Relief Pilot after returning to the flight deck after a rest period. While transiting from Cairo airspace to Amman airspace; there was no frequency assigned by the Cairo controller to contact Amman. In the vicinity of waypoint PETRA; the AMMAN controller transmitted on 121.5 for our flight to contact him with an assigned frequency. The Captain trainee; who is a previous first officer on this equipment; and my Relief Pilot; answered the AMMAN controller on the requested frequency. The AMMAN controller was apparently angry that our flight had entered his airspace without radio contact with him. He then asked for our aircraft registration which was given. The AMMAN controller then assigned a frequency to contact JEDDAH control. As the Captain Line Check Airman; I was in the crew bunk during this event. I was notified of the problem at the end of my rest period. The rest of the flight was uneventful.Cause: Failure of the Cairo controller to accomplish a timely hand off to the AMMAN controller. Also; failure of the flight crew to maintain awareness of the airspace they are in along with the necessity to be proactive about maintaining radio communications with the controlling agencies.Suggestion: The Cairo controller should have issued a frequency change for our flight to contact the AMMAN controller before our flight entered the Amman FIR. Also; the Captain trainee and Relief Pilot; should have maintained a higher degree of situational awareness regarding the need to be proactive in effecting the hand off from Cairo to Amman. Approaching the Amman FIR; the flight crew should have contacted Cairo and requested the Amman frequency.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.