Software Patches Mitigate Damaging Effects Of Intense Solar Radiation

Airbus released an update on the deployment of precautionary fleet measures on its approximately 6,000 A320 family of aircraft. The actions were required after several aircraft experienced an unexpected loss of altitude and Airbus issued an Alert Operators Transmission (AOT). Upon inspection, Airbus engineers traced the anomalies to corrupted altitude data believed to be caused by intense solar radiation that affected software vulnerabilities feeding the altitude data to aircraft systems.

Airbus immediately called for a precautionary action on a number of in-service A320 family aircraft. The company provided the following update on the deployment of the fixes:

“Out of a total number of around 6,000 aircraft potentially impacted, the vast majority have now received the necessary modifications. We are working with our airline customers to support the modification of less than 100 remaining aircraft to ensure they can be returned to service.

“Airbus apologises for any challenges and delays caused to passengers and airlines by this event. The Company thanks its customers, the authorities, its employees and all relevant stakeholders involved for their support in implementing these measures, and for their understanding of Airbus’ decision to put safety above all other considerations.”

Airbus said most aircraft only required the software update to mitigate the risk. However, about 900 older aircraft needed a replacement of the full flight computer, and only about 100 of those aircraft globally have yet to receive the update.

Airlines were quick to react to the AOT, with Air France, EasyJet, Wizz Air, and Delta who all worked around the clock to deploy the software patch. In the U.S., American Airlines and Delta said the update had minimal operational impact.

Guillaume Faury, CEO of Airbus also issued a personal statement saying, “We sincerely regret the disruption caused by this precautionary action, but safety must always come first. We are fully committed to supporting our operators through the final phase of modifications.”

FMI:  www.airbus.com/