“The European aviation concern Airbus announced the immediate recall and repair of 6,000 A320 family aircraft. This unprecedented decision, which affects more than half of the world’s fleet of this model, threatens global disruptions in air traffic and the cancellation of thousands of flights.”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
Source: Reuters
Details: This situation is already called one of the biggest failures in the company’s 55-year history. At the time when Airbus sent an emergency warning to more than 350 airline operators, about 3,000 A320 aircraft were in the air at the same time.
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Late on Friday, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued a directive making the repairs mandatory for flights to resume.
The reason for the recall was the technical vulnerability of the aircraft’s systems. Airbus said that recent studies have shown that solar flares can damage digital data critical to the functioning of an airliner’s control systems.
The problem is localized in the ELAC (Elevator and Aileron Computer) system. This computer is responsible for transmitting commands from the pilot’s side stick to the elevators and ailerons in the tail of the aircraft. The manufacturer of the equipment, the French group Thales, has already said that its computers meet the specifications, and that the failure concerns the software that is under the responsibility of Airbus.
The catalyst for the investigation and subsequent mass recall was a dangerous incident on October 30. An A320 of the JetBlue airline flying from Cancun (Mexico) to Newark (USA) suddenly began to lose altitude.
Due to control problems and an uncontrolled descent, the pilots made an emergency landing in Tampa, Florida. As a result of the sharp maneuver, several passengers were injured. An investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration of the USA (FAA) revealed that the cause of the incident was a failure in the control system due to an external influence.
According to the bulletin, the fix involves a rollback to a previous, more stable version of the software. The procedure takes about two hours per board. However, the logistics of the process are complicated: planes cannot fly commercially until the software is updated, forcing airlines to cancel flights and urgently send planes to maintenance bases.
The situation is compounded by the fact that repair hangars around the world are already overcrowded with engine inspection queues and the industry is experiencing an acute shortage of skilled mechanics.