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Flights disrupted after Airbus discovers intense sun radiation could impact flight control data (www.bbc.com)
submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by otter@lemmy.ca to c/tech@programming.dev
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If anyone has an article with more technical details on what the solar radiation did, and how they're going to patch it, I'd like to read about it :)

Airbus said it discovered the issue after an investigation into an incident in which a plane flying between the US and Mexico suddenly lost altitude in October.

The JetBlue Airways flight made an emergency landing in Florida after at least 15 people were injured.

The problem identified with A320 aircrafts relates to a piece of computing software which calculates a plane's elevation.

Airbus discovered that, at high altitudes, its data could be corrupted by intense radiation released periodically by the Sun.

The A320 family are what is known as "fly by wire" planes. This means there is no direct mechanical link between the controls in the cockpit and the parts of the aircraft that actually govern flight, with the pilot's actions processed by a computer.

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[-] zaphod@sopuli.xyz 5 points 3 months ago

Here's an article with a few more details https://avherald.com/h?article=52f1ffc3

[-] otter@lemmy.ca 4 points 3 months ago

Nice thank you, this one has the details I was curious about

In a service difficulty report submitted to the FAA the operator stated, that the Elevator Aileron Computer #2 (ELAC2) was identified faulty causing an uncommanded pitch down in cruise flight, the autopilot remained engaged

On Nov 7th 2025 the NTSB reported: "During cruise, the aircraft experienced an uncontrolled descent for approximately 4-5 seconds before the autopilot corrected the trajectory. This likely occurred during an ELAC switch change." The occurrence caused 10 injuries on board, the NTSB opened an investigation.

The subsequent investigation identified a vulnerability with the ELAC B hardware fitted with software L104 in case of exposure to solar flares.

This identified vulnerability could lead in the worst case scenario to an uncommanded elevator movement that may result in exceeding the aircraft structural capability.

[-] bravesilvernest@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 months ago

...for approximately 4-5 seconds before the autopilot corrected the trajectory.

Not trying to blame them, but where were pilots in this?

[-] Whelks_chance@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

It's fly by wire, the pilot doesn't have direct control of the plane, which is the main issue here.

[-] bravesilvernest@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 months ago

Seems like a huge gap there lol

[-] onlinepersona@programming.dev 0 points 3 months ago

Why is it called fly by wire? Fly by chip would make more sense. The wire is connected to a chip, not to a mechanical system.

[-] Whelks_chance@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

To indicate that there isn't a direct mechanical link between the pilot and the flaps. There's wires and computers in between.

[-] piccolo@sh.itjust.works 0 points 3 months ago

Shouldnt there be alarms when the auto pilot detected an unexpected rapid elevation change?

[-] BillBurBaggins@lemmy.world 0 points 3 months ago

It's not elevation, the height of a plane is called altitude. The change was in the elevator which is a control surface on the plane. There is so many people with so little understanding weighing in on this thread it's hilarious

[-] piccolo@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

altitude: 1 a: the vertical elevation of an object above a surface (such as sea level or land) of a planet or natural satellite

elevation: 1: the height to which something is elevated: such as c: the height above the level of the sea

Looks like the same word in a slightly different package. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[-] BillBurBaggins@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

Yeah tiger woods is definitely hitting that shot with his golf bat wrong. Literally how you sound

[-] piccolo@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

You mean the equipment that resembles a hockey stick? Continue being pedantic. It makes you look very smart.

[-] otter@lemmy.ca 0 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I wonder if it was even possible for the pilots to intervene, or if the system was interpreting any signal from them as "pitch down" during that time

[-] zaphod@sopuli.xyz 3 points 3 months ago

The pilot should be able to intervene. If the system interprets pilot input as nonsensical it overrides the pilot, but the pilot can switch to what Airbus calls "direct law" which directly maps pilot input to control surfaces without any sanity checks from the flight control system.

this post was submitted on 29 Nov 2025
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