Airlines around the world canceled and delayed flights heading into the weekend to fix software on a widely used commercial aircraft, after an analysis found the computer code might have contributed to a sudden drop in the altitude of a JetBlue plane last month.
Airbus on Friday said that an examination of the JetBlue incident revealed that intense solar radiation might corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls on the A320 family of aircraft.
The US Federal Aviation Administration joined the EU Aviation Safety Agency in requiring airlines to address the issue with a new software update. More than 500 US-registered aircraft would be impacted.
Photo: Chen Yi-kuan, Taipei Times
The EU safety agency said it might cause “short-term disruption” to flight schedules.
The problem was introduced by a software update to the plane’s onboard computers, according to the EU agency.
In Japan, All Nippon Airways, which operates more than 30 planes of the family, canceled 65 domestic flights yesterday.
Additional cancelations are possible today, the airline said.
In Taipei, the Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday instructed local airlines to complete repairs to A320 family jets affected by the emergency airworthiness directive before 8am today.
In a statement, the CAA said about two-thirds of the 67 A320 and A321 aircraft flown by China Airlines (中華航空), EVA Airways (長榮航空), Starlux Airlines (星宇航空) and Tigerair Taiwan (台灣虎航) must be checked under the directive.
China Airlines, Taiwan’s largest international carrier, said it would carry out the required software changes without disrupting its flight schedule.
EVA Air and Starlux said they do not expect any changes to their operations due to the repairs.
Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan said that the repairs would likely cause some disruption to its flight schedules, adding it would keep passengers informed.
Mike Stengel, a partner with the aerospace industry management consulting firm AeroDynamic Advisory, said the fix could be addressed between flights or on overnight plane checks.
“Definitely not ideal for this to be happening on a very ubiquitous aircraft on a busy holiday weekend,” Stengel said, referring to the US’ Thanksgiving holiday. “Although again the silver lining being that it only should take a few hours to update the software.”
At least 15 JetBlue passengers were injured and taken to hospital after the Oct. 30 incident on board the flight from Cancun, Mexico, to Newark, New Jersey. The plane was diverted to Tampa, Florida.
Airbus, which is registered in the Netherlands, but has its main headquarters in France, is one of the world’s biggest airplane manufacturers, alongside Boeing.
The A320 is the primary competitor to Boeing’s 737, Stengel said.
The A320 is the world’s bestselling single-aisle aircraft family, according to Airbus’ Web site.
Additional reporting by CNA
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