Airbus A320 Glitch: Flights Grounded After JetBlue Incident Triggers Global Alarm

India Today

In this Special Report, India Today's Special Correspondent Amit Bhardwaj reports on the global aviation crisis triggered by a software glitch in the Airbus A320 family. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued a 'most urgent notice' following a JetBlue Airways incident where an A320 experienced an 'uncommanded pitch down' due to a malfunction in the ELAC system. Bhardwaj notes that 'it is essentially the software update and the hardware update in regards to the ELAC system which is triggering this global aviation crisis'. The report highlights that IndiGo, Air India, and Air India Express face disruptions, with IndiGo likely to be the most impacted due to its large fleet of A320s.

Transcript

00:00And well Airbus A320 glitch causes airlines in India to scramble.

00:05Air travel in India and abroad is likely to face disruptions this weekend

00:09as thousands of Airbus A320 family aircraft undergo a mandatory software update

00:15prompting temporary groundings.

00:17The problem surfaced during a JetBlue Airways A320 flight B6-1230

00:23from Cancun to Nuwark on the 30th of October

00:27when the plane experienced an uncommanded pitch down at 35,000 feet

00:33injuring at least 15 passengers and forcing an emergency landing at Tampa in Florida.

00:38Indigo, Air India and Air India Express are expected to face operational disruptions.

00:44Indigo in a statement informed that the airline is undertaking all required inspections

00:48and is working closely with European Union Aviation Safety Agency and Airbus

00:54around 400 flights in India are likely to face delays due to problem.

00:59Meanwhile, DGCA has issued a notice and is monitoring the crisis very closely.

01:04Now, DGCA has confirmed that Airbus realized zeroed down

01:11that it was possibly because of the malfunction in the ELAC system

01:17as one of the major contributing factors for this particular incident without naming JetBlue.

01:24So, it is essentially the software update and the hardware update in regards to the ELAC system

01:32which is triggering this global aviation crisis at this point in time.

01:37Now, speaking of India, nearly 338 aircrafts in India with Indigo, Air India and Air India Express

01:46are of A320 series and Ministry of Civil Aviation's Directorate General of Civil Aviation

01:54issued most urgent notice in this particular regard

01:58for bringing mandatory modifications in airbuses A319, 320 as well as 321 series aircrafts

02:08that are operational with Indian aviation flyers or operators.

02:13Air India is claiming that it has already resolved or reset the modifications

02:18as required by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency.

02:2240% of the crafts in its fleet has been already reset.

02:27However, the biggest impact of this crisis or disruption is likely to happen on Indigo

02:33because Indigo happens to run nearly 200 of Airbus 320 crafts

02:40and that is why the major impact could be on Indigo.

02:44On one side, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency has already issued airworthiness directive

02:51in this regard. Airbus is in contact with the operators and India's DGCA has also issued mandatory modifications

02:59for the operators to carry out immediately.

03:03It is impacting the aviation sector not only in India but across the globe.

03:09With video journalist Loke Indra Pandey, this is Amit Bhardwaj reporting for India Today from Delhi.

03:13It's not a long-term grounding of the aircraft like what we're seeing on the MD-11 after the crash in Louisville from UPS.

03:23But this sounds like a fairly quick, short-term software update.

03:29They're actually telling operators to go back to a prior version of the software that may not be as susceptible.

03:34And even then, you know, the extent to which certain aircraft are affected may vary.

03:40United Airlines has come out and said that their fleet of A320s are not affected.

03:44So there may be, you know, certain vintages or so forth that, you know, may have more vulnerability than others.

03:51But, you know, this is something that they said, Airbus said that it should be a fix of up to three hours.

03:57So that's something that can be addressed.

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