Airbus problems ‘significant’ A320 Recall after air traffic control incidents – national
Europe’s Airbus said on Friday it had been ordering software upgrades that replaced “a significant number” of its best-selling A320 family of jets in a move global sources said.
Departures must be made before the next regular flight, according to a separate airline bulletin seen by Reuters, to avoid cancellations or delays during one of the busiest weekends of the year in the United States and beyond.
Airbus said in a recent statement that recent incidents involving an A320 family aircraft exposed to intense solar radiation could damage data critical to the operation of flight controls.
“Airbus acknowledges that these recommendations will lead to operational disruption for passengers and customers,” it said.
Industry sources said the incident caused an unexpected maintenance action involving a jetlue flight from Cancun, Mexico, to Newark, on October 30, where several passengers were injured after a sharp loss.
Flight 1230 made an emergency landing in Tampa, Florida, after a flight control problem and an unexpected descent, prompting an FAA investigation.
Jetlue and the FAA had no immediate comment.
The European Union’s top aviation agency must issue an emergency order to approve repairs, Airbus said.
For two out of three of the affected jets, the recall will result in a short turnaround as the planes revert to a previous software version, industry sources said.
However, that comes at a time of great demand in aircraft repair shops, which are already overwhelmed by a lack of maintenance capacity and the lay-off of hundreds of Airbus jets due to long waiting times for different aircraft for different engine repairs or inspections.
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Hundreds of affected Jets may also have hardware replaced, threatening longer wait times, sources said.
Some 3,000 more A320 jets are in the air around the world shortly after the Airbus announcement.
Airlines American Airlines and Hizz’s Wizz Air say they have already identified which of their planes will need software updates. Allied airlines said they were not affected.
American, in a statement, said about 340 of its 480 A320 aircraft need software changes, and it expects most of those scheduled to be “complete,” with two more hours needed for each flight.
There are approximately 11,300 A320 A320 aircraft in operation, including 6,440 of the Core A320 model, which first flew in 1987.
The recall is seen in BEAMOG in a large scale recall that affects Airbus in its 55-year history and comes weeks after the A320 debuted as the most dedicated model.
The A320 was Maiverream’s first jetliner to introduce Fly-by-wire computer controls.
The Bulletin seen by Reuters traced the problem to the plane’s system called ELC (Elevator and Aileron Computer), which sends commands from the Pilot’s Side-Stick Tode-Stick to Pilosis behind. This controls the slope of the plane or the angle of the plane.
The computer manufacturer, who said in response to a question from Reuters, is compatible with the Airbus data and operations mentioned in the support of the software ‘the responsibility of Thales.
