Airbus warns of solar radiation risk; number of A320 family aircraft may face issues

New Delhi: Around 200-250 Airbus A320 family planes operated by Indian airlines will need software changes to address the potential issue of intense solar radiation impacting data critical to flight controls, according to a source.

Airbus on Friday said intense solar radiation might corrupt data critical to flight controls in a significant number of A320 family aircraft and that the software changes required to fix the issue would lead to operational disruptions.

The source told PTI that around 200-250 A320 family planes with the Indian operators will require the software changes to fix the problem.

The source also said the aircraft concerned have to be grounded briefly for carrying out the software change that will result in operational disruptions.

India is a major market for the A320 family narrow-body aircraft, and IndiGo, Air India and Air India Express operate these planes. There are around 560 such planes operated by the domestic airlines.

A320 family aircraft refers to A320 ceos and neos, and A321 ceos and neos.

Airbus said an 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 has consequently identified a significant number of A320 family aircraft currently in-service which may be impacted," it said in a release.

Airbus said it acknowledges that 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," it said.

The aircraft maker said it has worked proactively with the aviation authorities to request immediate precautionary action from operators via an Alert Operators Transmission (AOT) in order to implement the available software and/or hardware protection, and ensure the fleet is safe to fly.

"This AOT will be reflected in an Emergency Airworthiness Directive from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)," it added.