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Millions of airline passengers booked to fly on the Airbus A320 family of aircraft could find their flights disrupted while urgent modifications are made to a piece of equipment susceptible to “intense solar radiation”. A total of 6,500 of the twin-jets are believed to be affected.
The Civil Aviation Authority warned those aircraft will have to have software modified “or remain on the ground from Sunday onwards until the software has been changed”.
In most cases the update is expected to take two hours. But with tight scheduling for many aircraft, disruption is likely. Britain’s biggest budget airline, easyJet, as well as Wizz Air, warned some flights over the weekend may be affected.
Airbus issued a dramatic announcement on Friday evening saying: “Intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls.
“Airbus has consequently identified a significant number of A320 family aircraft currently in-service which may be impacted.”
The equipment in question is the elevator aileron computer (Elac). It controls the elevators that change the pitch of the aircraft, and the ailerons that enable the plane to turn. The fear is that solar radiation acting on the system corrupt data – which may trigger a movement that “may result in exceeding the aircraft’s structural capability”.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (Easa) has issued an “emergency airworthiness directive”, effective from 11.59pm on Saturday 29 November, instructing operators of the affected aircraft to take action.
Easa’s directive says: “An Airbus A320 aeroplane recently experienced an uncommanded and limited pitch down event. The autopilot remained engaged throughout the event, with a brief and limited loss of altitude.
“Preliminary technical assessment done by Airbus identified a malfunction of the affected Elac as possible contributing factor.
“This condition, if not corrected, could lead in the worst-case scenario to an uncommanded elevator movement that may result in exceeding the aircraft’s structural capability.”
The Airbus A320 family, which includes the A319 and A321, is now the world’s most popular shorthaul plane. It overtook the Boeing 737 in terms of deliveries last month.
According to Cirium data, the A320 family operated 1,414,516 flights in September alone – roughly 2,000 take-offs and landings every hour. Around 8 million seats depart each day on the series of aircraft.
A senior UK aviation source said: “It’s a serious issue but one which looks to be tackled very rapidly, and that in turn will exacerbate disruption to passengers.
“It’s a reminder that where passengers can take safety for granted, everyone in the aviation industry cannot and this is one of those rare occasions where decisive action is clearly needed to protect safety.”
The easyJet fleet of more than 350 aircraft is entirely composed of A319s, A320s and A321s. A spokesperson for easyJet said: “As we are expecting this to result in some disruption, we will inform customers directly about any changes to our flying programme tomorrow and will do all possible to minimise the impact.
“Safety is our highest priority and easyJet operates its fleet of aircraft in strict compliance with manufacturers guidelines.”
Wizz Air has over 200 Airbus A320s and A321s, though some are currently grounded due to separate problems with their Pratt & Whitney engines.
A spokesperson for the airline said: “Wizz Air confirms that some of its aircraft are among the more than 6,500 Airbus A320 family aircraft worldwide that require a software update, as recently identified by the aircraft manufacturer.
“Wizz Air has already immediately scheduled the necessary maintenance to ensure full compliance with the identified mitigation.
“As a result, some flights over the weekend may be affected. Passengers who booked directly with Wizz Air via the website or mobile app will be notified of any schedule changes.
“The safety of our customers, crew, and aircraft is always our number one and overriding priority. We apologise for any inconvenience caused by circumstances outside of our direct control.”
British Airways’ mainline Heathrow shorthaul and Gatwick Euroflyer operations are flown entirely by Airbus A320 family aircraft. The Independent understands only three of BA’s aircraft are affected, and that the necessary software updates will be completed overnight with no disruption to flights.
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