Airbus orders software fix to thousands of planes due to solar radiation risk

Airbus ordered software fixes for 6,000 A320 series aircraft after discovering that intense solar radiation can corrupt critical flight control data, causing global flight delays and cancellations. The directive followed an October 30 JetBlue flight that suddenly lost altitude and made an emergency landing in Tampa after departing from Cancun to Newark. The Federal Aviation Administration issued an emergency order requiring affected planes to revert to earlier software versions before flying again, with some aircraft needing hardware replacements.