Airbus detects glitch in A320 family aircraft; 6,000 planes to be grounded for upgrade

Airbus has discovered that intense radiation from the sun could corrupt data crucial to flight controls in its A320 aircraft and has requested immediate modifications to thousands of aircraft. As a result, about 6,000 planes are likely to be affected, about half the global fleet of the European aerospace giant. However, most aircraft will have to undergo a simple software update.

Airbus said the issue affects the A320, its best-selling aircraft, and some other models from the same design fleet, like the A318, A319 and the A321. Airbus said the problem was discovered after a recent ‘incident’ in the US involving an A320 family aircraft and apologised for disruption to passengers. The incident, which occurred on 30 October, involved a JetBlue Airways A320 making an emergency landing in Florida, after a sudden drop in altitude. At least 15 people were reportedly injured.

The problem is that intense solar and cosmic radiation at high altitudes can affect the working of the ELAC computer, which controls the elevators and ailerons. These are aerodynamic surfaces that are used to make the aircraft pitch up or down or roll to turn.

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The issue can be addressed using a relatively simple software update on around 5,100 Airbus planes, but the older versions will need some new hardware also and will need to be taken out of service for modification.

Airbus has apologised saying it acknowledges that this will lead to “operational disruption to passengers and customers”.

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Airbus directive could lead to flight delays: Air India

Air India said the directive from Airbus could lead to delays. In a post on X, Air India said, “We are aware of a directive from Airbus related to its A320 family aircraft currently in-service across airline operators. This will result in a software/hardware realignment on a part of our fleet, leading to longer turnaround time and delays to our scheduled operations. Air India regrets any inconvenience this may cause to passengers till the reset is carried out across the fleet.”

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the UK’s aviation regulator, said the request from Airbus would “likely to mean that unfortunately there may be some disruption and cancellations to flights”.

“Passengers should check with their airline whether their flights are affected. Airlines have a duty of care to look after passengers when a flight is delayed,” said Giancarlo Buono, director of aviation safety at CAA.

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The A320 aircraft are “fly by wire” planes in which there is no direct mechanical link between the controls in the cockpit and the parts of the aircraft that actually govern flight. The pilot’s actions are interpreted by computers, which actually “fly” the plane.

The manufacturer has issued an alert to all airlines, requesting them to take “immediate precautionary action…in order to implement the available software and/or hardware protection and ensure the fleet is safe to fly”.