Airbus has ordered software fixes for 6,000 A320 series aircraft following an incident on October 30, when a JetBlue A320 Family plane from Cancun, Mexico, to Newark, New Jersey, lost altitude and made an emergency landing in Tampa, due to risks from intense solar radiation corrupting flight control data.
The analysis of the JetBlue flight, reported by Reuters citing industry sources, identified that solar radiation interfered with critical flight systems, prompting Airbus to act on the vulnerability across its fleet. The company stated that this measure addresses potential data corruption in flight controls exposed to such radiation during operations.
The Federal Aviation Administration responded with an emergency airworthiness directive, requiring all affected aircraft to revert to earlier software versions before resuming flights. This step ensures system stability until permanent updates are applied.
Airbus further noted that a smaller subset of the fleet will require hardware modifications in addition to the software changes, targeting specific components vulnerable to solar interference.
Implementation of these fixes led to widespread flight delays and cancellations globally, as airlines grounded planes to comply with the directive and complete the necessary updates.
