Overview
- The Oct. 30 JetBlue A320 from Cancún to Newark suddenly lost altitude and diverted to Tampa, where about 15–20 passengers were taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.
- Airbus said its analysis indicated intense solar radiation could corrupt flight-control data and ordered immediate software updates across thousands of A320-family aircraft.
- Space-radiation experts, including Clive Dyer, argue solar activity that day was insignificant and suggest a cosmic-ray strike from a distant supernova as a more plausible trigger.
- Most aircraft received the software fix within hours, around 900 needed hardware changes, and as of early week fewer than 100 planes still awaited modification, according to reporting.
- Investigations continue and neither the FAA nor Airbus has confirmed a cosmic-ray or supernova origin, highlighting broader concerns over particle-induced upsets in modern avionics.