6,000 Airbus Planes Grounded Due to Software Issue
The directive from the company was issued on November 29 and it led to widespread flight cancellations and delays worldwide, affecting millions of passengers during the US Thanksgiving travel weekend
European aerospace giant Airbus has grounded 6,000 A320 aircraft, nearly half of its global fleet, after identifying intense solar radiation could corrupt computer data, that could affect the critical flight controls. This one of the largest aircraft recalls in aviation history.
The directive from the company was issued on November 29 and it led to widespread flight cancellations and delays worldwide, affecting millions of passengers during the US Thanksgiving travel weekend.
The Airbus issued the directive following an October 30 incident when a JetBlue flight from Cancun to Newark suddenly nosedived without pilot input. This led to injury of several passengers and an emergency landing in Tampa, Florida.
On investigation, it was found that a malfunction to the aircraft's ELAC2 computer, having control over the elevator and aileron surfaces, was caused due to intense solar radiation that corrupted data essential to maintaining stable flight.
According to the fleet data reports, there are nearly 11,500 Airbus A320 series aircraft in service around the world.
Airbus found that the radiation could affect A320 single-aisle aircraft, that recently overtook the Boeing 737 as the most delivered airplane type in the world.
The European Union Aviation Safety issued an emergency airworthiness directive prohibiting affected aircraft from flying till the repairs are completed.