Abundance of caution: How flight hit by solar flare sparked rush for Airbus fix

AIrlines crossways the domain cancelled hundreds of flights and scrambled to rising slope package on sir thomas more than 6,000 aircraft over the weekend, though the impact was far from significant in India. The scramble was triggered by a rare safety directive following evidence that intense solar radiation could corrupt flight control systems on some Airbus planes, including the ubiquitous A320.The urgent fix was issued by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency late Friday and came after a recent incident involving a JetBlue jetliner. The warning stated that the flaw – which can mostly be fixed with a software update but can require some hardware changes – can potentially lead to uncommanded aircraft movement that could exceed structural limits in the worst-case scenario.The directive affects more than half of all A320 family aircraft in service globally — the most-delivered commercial airliner in history.“This condition, if not corrected, could lead in the worst-case scenario to an uncommanded elevator movement that may result in exceeding the aircraft’s structural capability,” the European flight safety regulator warned.Indian airlines moved swiftly to comply with the directive, upgrading 270 of their 338 affected Airbus aircraft by Saturday evening as they raced to meet regulators’ tight timeline. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said a total of 200 IndiGo aircraft, 113 of Air India and 25 of Air India Express aircraft were impacted by the directive.While no flights were cancelled by the airlines, several were delayed, government officials said. “First half of the day saw more delays in the flights for the three airlines,” an official said, adding that nearly 5% of IndiGo’s total flights were delayed until 1 pm. The flights were initially delayed for a couple of hours, but these delays were reduced to an hour.As of 11pm on Saturday, IndiGo had completed software upgrades on all of its 200 affected aircraft, while Air India had completed 90% of its 113 affected aircraft — 104 A320 NEOs and nine A320 CEOs. The remaining work was underway across base stations in Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Kolkata, with full compliance expected before 5:29 am on Sunday, the DGCA stated.According to Flightradar24, by evening, a majority of departing flights were delayed in Delhi (422) followed by Mumbai (371) with an average of 35 minutes.“Spot checks have been carried out today on said fleet and found the compliance on said fleet,” a DGCA official said.An Air India Express spokesperson said, “We have completed the precautionary safety actions on the majority of our Airbus A320 fleet, with the remaining aircraft on track for completion within the advised timeline.”The advisory follows an unnerving incident on October 30 involving a JetBlue plane flying from Cancun to Newark, New Jersey, that suffered a computer glitch, resulting in a sudden unexpected downward pitch without pilot input. Ten people were injured, and the jet diverted to Tampa, Florida, where some were hospitalised. An investigation revealed that one of the plane’s elevator-aileron computers — known as ELAC 2 — malfunctioned.“Preliminary technical assessment done by Airbus identified a malfunction of the affected ELAC as a possible contributing factor,” the European flight safety regulator said.Depending on the age of the aircraft, updates are either a hassle-free download, or they require a more cumbersome change of hardware. According to people familiar with the situation, most of the jets can receive an uncomplicated update from the cockpit with minimal downtime. But about 1,000 older jets will need an actual hardware upgrade and will have to be grounded for the duration of the maintenance, said the people, asking not to be identified discussing nonpublic findings.The A320 is flown using so-called fly-by-wire technology, which relies on electronic input rather than hydraulic mechanisms. The ELAC system, whose hardware is made by France’s Thales SA, helps manage critical flight parameters such as stabilizer trip and ensures the aircraft remains within its prescribed flight envelope by preventing excessive or accidental inputs.The finding is a significant headache for Airbus, given the A320 family is the company’s by far most widely flown aircraft, with more than 11,000 in operation. The sudden upgrade requirement was unwelcome news for airlines as well, especially those dependent on Airbus as their sole fleet provider.“Airbus acknowledges these recommendations will lead to operational disruptions to passengers and customers,” the manufacturer said.The A320 competes with Boeing Co.’s 737 model, and the two jetliner families are the workhorses of the civil aviation industry. Airbus has already had to absorb engine issues on its newer A320neo jets, powered by Pratt & Whitney, that have forced hundreds of jets to be taken out of service temporarily for maintenance.Airbus introduced the aircraft in question in the late 1980s, and its wild success made the European planemaker No. 1 globally, leapfrogging Boeing. The A320 family today includes the smaller A319 model, the classic A320 and the larger and increasingly popular A321. Airbus put new, more fuel-efficient engines on the airline about a decade ago, the so-called new engine option, or neo.The fix announced includes both A320neo and the classic, older A320 family, Airbus said.Onboard software is increasingly critical to stable flight in modern aircraft, though a malfunctioning system can have catastrophic consequences. Boeing suffered two crashes in rapid succession a few years ago involving its latest 737 Max aircraft after a software system called MCAS malfunctioned in flight.