Airbus Orders Software Fix for Thousands of Planes - Solar Radiation Risk

Global Flight Disruptions Following Airbus A320 Series Fixes

Worldwide flight schedules have experienced delays and cancellations as a result of Airbus’s directive for repairs to approximately 6,000 aircraft within its A320 series, as reported by The Guardian.

The aerospace manufacturer stated that this preventative measure is being undertaken following an analysis of a recent incident. This analysis indicated that strong solar radiation has the potential to compromise data essential for the operation of flight control systems.

Incident Details: JetBlue Flight from Cancun

According to industry sources cited by Reuters, the event prompting this action was a JetBlue flight on October 30th. The flight was traveling from Cancun, Mexico, to Newark, New Jersey, when it unexpectedly lost altitude.

Consequently, the aircraft was forced to execute an emergency landing in Tampa, Florida.

FAA Directive and Required Actions

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued an emergency airworthiness directive. This directive mandates that affected aircraft revert to a previous software version before being cleared for flight.

Airbus has further specified that a limited number of planes will require hardware modifications to address the issue.

Solar radiation is identified as the primary cause of potential data corruption affecting flight controls in the A320 series.