Data corruption hobbles Airbus fleet, firm orders immediate software fix for 6,000 planes due to data corruption from intense sun radiation

Airbus has instructed airlines worldwide to implement an urgent software change on roughly 6,000 A320-family aircraft after investigators traced an October in-flight incident to corrupted flight-control data, likely caused by intense solar radiation. European regulators followed with mandatory directives requiring operators to revert affected aircraft to an earlier software load before their next flight, prompting airlines to begin slotting rapid turn-round updates into already dense schedules.

The recall stems from an October 30 event involving a JetBlue A321 operating near the northeastern United States. According to regulator summaries, the aircraft experienced uncommanded flight-control behaviour tied to the elevator and aileron computer chain. The crew diverted, and several passengers were injured during the upset.

While fly-by-wire systems on the A320 series use triple-redundant computers and cross-checking logic to guard against individual component failures, investigators determined that a combination of inputs had escaped the expected handling in the latest software release. Airbus told regulators that solar activity at the time created conditions capable of corrupting data within the control stack, which must still be mitigated in software.

Airlines have been instructed to install a prior, stable software image that pre-dates the behaviour seen in October. The change can be made at the gate through line maintenance procedures, and most aircraft can be cleared within hours. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency said a smaller subset of airframes requires a hardware component swap. This process takes longer and has produced the first pockets of schedule disruption as carriers reshuffle aircraft to keep operations moving. UK regulators issued a parallel advisory to passengers, warning that some services would face short-notice delays while operators cleared their fleets.

Cosmic-ray-induced bit flips are a known hazard in high-altitude flight, and avionics engineers rely on techniques such as error-correcting memory and watchdog timers to keep control laws stable when components are exposed to stray radiation. The October incident showed how a rare interaction between hardware and software can still surface in a mature platform, and why manufacturers maintain the ability to roll back entire fleets to a known-good configuration at short notice.

It’s expected that airlines will complete most software updates in the next few days, with Airbus continuing its investigation into the precise failure path.

In a very brief statement, Airbus said, "Analysis of a recent event involving an A320 Family aircraft has revealed that intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls... Airbus acknowledges these recommendations will lead to operational disruptions to passengers and customers. We apologise for the inconvenience caused and will work closely with operators, while keeping safety as our number one and overriding priority."

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