Jetstar has confirmed flights are unable to depart at this stage’ after one of the world’s biggest aircraft manufacturers issued an urgent upgrades warning.
The aeronautics company announced Friday that they have discovered a potential vulnerability in the software on board the Airbus A320 during solar storms, which may hinder pilots from steering or stabilising the plane while in the air.
Airbus issued an Alert Operators Transmission (AOT), a global warning that urges all airlines using the A320 passenger jet to immediately update their software and hardware to better protect against radiation interference.
‘Airbus has consequently identified a significant number of A320 Family aircraft currently in-service which may be impacted,’ it said in a statement on Friday.
Thousands of planes will be affected around the globe, with Jetstar confirming its services were ‘unable to depart’ on Saturday.
Large queues were seen forming at Melbourne Airport just before 8am.
‘Due to an issue affecting Airbus A320 operators globally, some of Jetstar’s Airbus-operated flights are unable to depart at this stage,’ a Jetstar spokesperson said.
‘We’re working through the impacts on our fleet and to our customers. We’ll have more information shortly.
Jetstar has confirmed flights are unable to depart at this stage’ after one of the world’s biggest aircraft manufacturers issued an urgent upgrades warning (pictured, a Jetstar plane)
Queues at Melbourne Airport are seen on Saturday morning
‘We apologise to customers for the inconvenience caused.’
It’s understood the update will not impact Qantas flights. Daily Mail has contacted Virgin Australia in regards to the update.
Airbus urged clients to take ‘immediate precautionary action’ on Friday, adding that a significant number of A320 aircraft will be affected.
‘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,’ it said.
Replacing the software is expected to take ‘a few hours’ on most planes, however, it could ‘take weeks’ for some 1,000 aircraft, a close source told AFP.
Industry safety experts believe the problem originated on a JetBlue flight from Cancun, Mexico to Newark, New Jersey that suddenly suffered an uncontrolled drop in altitude of thousands of feet on October 30, injuring at least 15 people.
An investigation involving the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) found intense solar radiation corrupted critical data in the flight control computers, causing the plane to momentarily lose accurate positioning information and plunge downwards.
Intense solar radiation in Earth’s atmosphere is often caused by solar flares or coronal mass ejections, which bombard the planet with powerful bursts of charged particles and electromagnetic energy.
These space weather events can sometimes interfere with satellites, GPS, radio signals, and, in this case, even the electronics inside modern aircraft at high altitudes.
More to come.
