Airbus Recalls 6,000 A320 Jets

Airbus SE recently released a recall notice for 6,000 A320 jets it said were at risk of software malfunction. In a November 28 statement, the French aviation manufacturer said “intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls.” A follow-up statement released the following Monday, December 1, indicated that most affected planes had received necessary software rollbacks, but that fewer than 100 still needed fixing. According to Reuters, the recall notice forced JetBlue to cancel about 20 flights to handle the issue. The incident comes just a few weeks since Airbus’ A320 jet surpassed the Boeing 737 jet as the most-delivered in history.

Reuters reported November 28 that the initial incident that prompted the recall was an October 30 JetBlue flight from Cancun, Mexico to Newark, New Jersey. The plane made an emergency landing in Tampa, Florida after the jet unexpectedly dropped rapidly in altitude, leading to several passenger injuries and an FAA investigation. According to unnamed sources cited by Reuters as familiar with the matter, the link between that drop in altitude and the November 28 recall is “possible,” but “unproven.”

According to Airbus’ original November 28 statement, the company notified aviation authorities to request precautionary actions, including an Emergency Airworthiness Directive from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. Reuters reported November 28 that American Airlines had to fix 340 of its 480 A320 planes, but the fix for most planes was short enough for airliners to patch the plane’s software during normal safety checks.