Overview
- On Oct. 30, a JetBlue A320 from Cancun to Newark abruptly lost altitude, diverted to Tampa, and about 15 to 20 passengers were evaluated at hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.
- Airbus said its analysis indicated intense solar radiation may corrupt flight-control data and ordered an immediate software update for more than 6,000 A320-family jets after briefly grounding affected aircraft.
- Company materials and regulators described a malfunction in the computer controlling elevator and aileron functions that could trigger an uncommanded nose-down input capable of stressing the airframe.
- Clive Dyer of the University of Surrey disputes a solar cause, noting quiet solar conditions that day and suggesting a high-energy cosmic ray from a distant supernova likely caused a single-event upset in avionics.
- Most aircraft received software fixes within hours, roughly 900 required hardware changes, and as of Monday fewer than 100 still awaited modification, while the precise root cause remains under review.