By James Simons-
Thousands of planes from Airbus’s A320 family have been ordered for repairs following a software issue.
The aircraft manufacturer said it decided to undertake the out software updates for 6,000 of its jets – around half the global fleet – seriously disrupting travel for airline passengers.
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The UK’s Civil Aviation Authority said it expects some disruptions to airlines and flights, with easyJet and Wizz Air saying they will take some planes briefly out of service to do the repairs.
The unexpected repair order was ignited by a JetBlue flight from Cancun, Mexico, to Newark, New Jersey, on 30 October.
The flight suffered a control problem and a sudden uncommanded drop in altitude, basically a sharp loss of height, which left 15 passengers with injuries and forced the flight to make an emergency landing in Tampa, Florida.
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Airbus said “intense solar radiation” may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls.
The issue is known as bit flip, where solar radiation can strike a computer’s memory, changing its data from a 0 to a 1 and vice versa is a risk which also affects spacecraft. Experts believe the chances of practical danger materialising is remote, but such chances cannot be taken in aviation given the huge risk to life.
The solution involves going back to earlier software, but must be carried out before the planes can fly again, according to a bulletin to airlines.
Some jets may need to have their hardware replaced to adopt the required software – a process which would take a longer time..
The plane under scrutiny which led to the mass recall was JetBlue Flight 1230, which was traveling from Cancun, Mexico to Newark, New Jersey on October 30 when it suddenly dropped in altitude, causing several injuries.
The Airbus A320 family of airplanes is now the most used aircraft, with more than 9,000 planes flying around the world, including 1,600 in the U.S., Airbus A320 planes are flown by a number of domestic and international airlines, and the required software update could lead to “operational disruptions to passengers and customers,” Airbus also said.
The required software fix comes during the height of christmas travel for millions of holiday makers.
American Airlines said it took swift action to address the software issue and as of 6 p.m. CT there were fewer than 150 aircraft remaining to update with software replacement. It expects updates to be completed Friday and Saturday. The airline also said it expects “some delays” but is focused on limiting flight cancellations.
“Still, our overriding priority will always be the safety of our operation. It’s all hands on deck across our airline to address this Airbus software issue and take care of any customers whose flights are affected,” the airline said in a statement on Friday.
Delta Air Lines said in a statement on Friday it expects “any resulting operational impact to be limited”, with United Airlines stating on Friday that most of its aircraft were not affected by the software issue, but told NPR later that six of its aircraft would be impacted.
The airline also said it expects “minor disruption to a few flights”. Allegiant Air said the airline is doing everything it can to minimize any potential delays or disruptions and will contact impacted passengers directly.
Germany’s Lufthansa, India’s IndiGo, and easyJet in the UK revealed that they would have to pull several of their passenger planes from service in order to update the vulnerable computer systems, according to Reuters.
Industry safety experts believe the problem originated on a JetBlue flight from Cancun, Mexico to Newark, New Jersey that suddenly suffered an uncontrolled drop in altitude of thousands of feet on October 30, injuring at least 15 people.
An investigation involving the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) found intense solar radiation corrupted critical data in the flight control computers, causing the plane to momentarily lose accurate positioning information and plunge downwards.
The airline was applying a practical lesson from an incident on October 30 when, JetBlue Flight 1230 was cruising at 35,000 feet when the solar radiation caused the uncontrolled drop.
One of the next radio transmissions revealed that the A320 was levelling off at 10,000 feet so the plane could land in Tampa, Florida.
The pilot also reported that multiple passengers had been injured, likely suffering cuts on their heads as the flight plummeted almost 25,000 feet.
‘JetBlue 1230 descending to 10,000, we’re levelling 297,’ the pilot said in audio obtained from the air traffic control transmission by CBS42.
‘We need medical equipment; we have at least three people injured, maybe a laceration in the head.’
Germany’s Lufthansa, India’s IndiGo, and easyJet in the UK revealed that they would have to pull several of their passenger planes from service in order to update the vulnerable computer systems, according to Reuters.
Industry safety experts believe the problem originated on a JetBlue flight from Cancun, Mexico to Newark, New Jersey that suddenly suffered an uncontrolled drop in altitude of thousands of feet on October 30, injuring at least 15 people.
An investigation involving the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) found intense solar radiation corrupted critical data in the flight control computers, causing the plane to momentarily lose accurate positioning information and plunge downwards.
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