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A320 Software Fix Rolls Out After Emergency Order as Most Jets Return to Service

Investigators linked a JetBlue pitch-down to solar radiation corrupting ELAC data, prompting mandatory rollbacks before further flights.

Overview

  • European and US regulators issued emergency directives requiring A320-family operators to apply the software change before the next flight.
  • Airbus determined that intense solar radiation can corrupt ELAC flight-control data, and most aircraft are being reverted to an earlier software version taking about two to three hours.
  • Industry briefings put the scope near 6,000 aircraft worldwide, with a smaller subset of older jets needing hardware work that will take longer to complete.
  • Airlines reported rapid overnight progress with limited cancellations in Europe and the United States, while Avianca warned of significant disruption and paused ticket sales and ANA canceled 65 domestic flights.
  • France’s transport minister said the number of aircraft requiring prolonged intervention appears far lower than initial projections, possibly closer to a hundred than a thousand.