Airbus has temporarily grounded more than 6,000 of its popular aircraft for an urgent software update after one plane unexpectedly dropped altitude during a flight — a move that could disrupt air travel worldwide during the busy holiday season. The company said Friday that it found a possible vulnerability in the Airbus A320's flight software. According
Strong solar storms — which send charged particles toward Earth — could mess with the system and interfere with how well pilots can control or steady the aircraft, according to several officials. Around 3,000 A320s were in the air at the time the grounding order came through. The dangerous glitch came to light after an FDA investigation.
Dangerous Glitch Detected
"Analysis of a recent event involving an A320 Family aircraft has revealed that intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the function of flight controls," the company said in its bulletin. "Airbus has consequently identified a significant number of A320 Family aircraft currently in-service which may be impacted. Airbus acknowledges these recommendations will lead to operational disruptions to passengers and customers."
The issue came to light after the FAA investigated a JetBlue flight on Oct. 30 from Cancun to Newark. That plane suddenly dropped thousands of feet, injuring 15 people and forcing an emergency landing in Florida.
Investigators found that a burst of strong solar radiation had scrambled the jet's flight-control computers, wiping out key positioning data and causing the aircraft to fall from 35,000 feet to 10,000 feet.
Airlines in the U.S., South America, Europe and India have since warned that the urgent software fix could lead to major delays and cancellations.
Passengers to Face Problem
American Airlines — the biggest user of A320s — said around 340 of its 480 jets need the update. Each aircraft will take about two hours to fix, and the airline expects the work to be finished by Saturday.
Lufthansa, IndiGo and easyJet said they'll temporarily pull some planes from service to get the repairs done.
Colombian airline Avianca warned that the recall will impact more than 70% of its fleet, forcing the company to pause ticket sales for flights through Dec. 8.
The recall is the biggest Airbus has ever issued in its 55 years of operation.
"Airbus has worked proactively with the aviation authorities to request immediate precautionary action from operators via an Alert Operators Transmission (AOT) in order to implement the available software and/or hardware protection, and ensure the fleet is safe to fly," the company said.
"We apologise for the inconvenience caused and will work closely with operators, while keeping safety as our number one and overriding priority."
