Planes grounded after Airbus discovers solar radiation could impact systems

Thousands of Airbus planes had to be grounded for a software upgrade after it was discovered that strong solar radiation could damage onboard flight control systems. Around 6,000 A320 planes were expected to be affected by the update, half of the European firm's global fleet, but many were able to fly again within hours after undergoing the upgrade. The UK's aviation authority predicted some disruption and cancellations to flights, but the impact on airports seems to be limited. After an inquiry into an incident in which a plane flying between the United States and Mexico suddenly lost altitude in October, AirbUS said it had figured out the issue.

After at least 15 people were wounded, the JetBlue Airways flight made an emergency landing in Florida. The A318 and the A321 models, as well as the A320, the company's best-selling aircraft, are also affected by the crash. According to reports, around 5,100 Airbus planes can be fixed with a relatively straightforward software upgrade that will normally take about three hours. Wizz Air, one airline, announced to the BBC that it had completed the update overnight on all of its affected A320 aircraft, and that all flights on Saturday will be operating as normal. However, there are 900 aircraft that are older versions of other airlines, and these will need to have onboard computers physically repaired, and passengers will not be allowed to carry passengers again until the job is complete. The length of time it takes will depend on the availability of replacement computers. Airbus said it acknowledged that this would result in

operational disruption to passengers and customers

and had apologized. According to aviation analyst Sally Gethin, the situation is very much out of the ordinary, and passengers' disruption will depend on the different approaches airlines take to upgrade their software. So far, disruption at airports in the United Kingdom has been limited. Gatwick Airport in London caused some disruption, according to Heathrow, who said that there had no cancellations. Manchester Airport said that it did not anticipate significant delays. The issue is not expected to have a major effect on British Airways and Air India. However, Air France appeared to be experiencing some delays on Saturday morning with many flights in and out of Paris's Charles de Gaulle Airport delayed or cancelled. Meanwhile, Easyjet said it was expecting this to result in some disruption, but later added that it had started and that already finished the app upgrade on many aircraft and was scheduling a complete service on Saturday. The software problem in the United States emerged on the same weekend as Thanksgiving, one of the year's bUSiest travel seasons. 340 of American Airlines' planes were affected by the disaster and that it anticipated some operational delays, according to the airline, but the overwhelming majority of updates will be completed on Friday or Saturday. Delta Airlines said the effect on its operations would be "limited. After finding that around a third of its fleet had been affected, budget airline Jetstar cancelled 90 flights in Australia, with disruption expected to persist all weekend, despite the majority of aircraft having already undergone the upgrade.

The notice from Airbus

unfortunately may mean there is some disruption, some delays, or cancellations over the coming days,

Tim Johnson, the UK Civil Aviation Authority's policy director, said. He continued that aviation was still one of the safest modes of transportation due to the airlines' stringent maintenance policies, and that mass-grounding of flights was a very rare occurrence.The effect on UK airlines seems limited,Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said, adding:It is heartening this issue has been identified and will be addressed quickly," she said, demonstrating the highest aviation safety requirements globally.

'Precautionary action'

The issue with the A320 aircraft was related to a piece of computation software that calculates a plane's elevation. At high altitudes, Airbus discovered that intense sunlight, which is released daily by the Sun, could have contaminated its records. That led to the October crash, in which an aircraft suddenly lost altitude - but the manufacturer claimed that this was the first time an event of its kind had occurred. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (Easa) has issued an emergency airworthiness directive, requiring that the issue be addressed before any plane can carry passengers again. In order to reach a maintenance center, they will be allowed to make so-called ferry flights without passengers. The A320 family are what is described as fly by wire planes. This means there is no direct mechanical connection between the pilot's computer and the aircraft's parts that actually control flight, with the pilots' movements processed by a computer.