Airbus Grounds 'Significant Number' of A320 Planes

Source: Wall Street Journal

Solar radiation may corrupt data critical to flight controls, creating safety issues

Airbus said its A320 family of planes need immediate updates to software and, in some cases, hardware, and it urged airlines to ground flights around the world.

A recent event involving an A320 aircraft revealed that intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls, the company said Friday.

Airbus has identified “a significant number” of aircraft in that family of planes that could be impacted, potentially delaying or canceling flights in the near-term.

The A320 is widely used by United, Delta, American and JetBlue. Like the Boeing 737, it is a workhorse narrow-body jet commonly used on domestic flights in the U.S.

“We apologise for the inconvenience caused and will work closely with operators, while keeping safety as our number one and overriding priority,” Airbus said.

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