Airbus grounding

[BrendAn]

[BrendAn]

Something like 6000 aircraft have to have a software update.

[red750]

Apparently the software malfunction was caused by solar flares.

[onetrack]

Here's an ABC news article regarding the problem. Jetstar has had about 90 flights grounded. The repair involves a software update that takes about 2 hrs - but as always, a shortage of qualified LAMEs is a big part of the problem, that is causing delays.

The software "update" actually involves reverting to the previous version of the aircrafts computer programming. It appears the latest software update installed was unable to cope with the solar flares.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-29/jetstar-flights-grounded-delayed-due-to-airbus-a320-recall/106081408

 

[kgwilson]

Better to deal with the problem head on and suffer any consequences than do a Boeing & not tell anyone. 

[BurnieM]

So not a big job to fix it but a limited number of authorised maintenance staff who can do the job.

This could end up taking months to get the whole fleet flying again.

 

[facthunter]

I believe it affects about HALF of Jetstar's Fleet of A 320's. A softtware Issue.  I think the Number of AC involved is in the Mid 30's . Nev

[BrendAn]

8 minutes ago, facthunter said:

I believe it affects about HALF of Jetstar's Fleet of A 320's. A softtware Issue.  I think the Number of AC involved is in the Mid 30's . Nev

There are around 6000 AC affected around the world and yes we know it is a software issue.

[facthunter]

The "News" was about Jetstar's A 320's in Australia. Nev

[BrendAn]

6 minutes ago, facthunter said:

The "News" was about Jetstar's A 320's in Australia. Nev

This thread was about the airbus

Directive In the first post . They were talking about all aircraft not Jetstar. They said there are around  6000 affected.

[Marty_d]

What I don't understand is why Qantas and Virgin Australia weren't affected? Virgin perhaps because they only have 5 in fleet (according to their website which may be out of date), but Qantas has A319s, A320s and A321XLRs, but it's only Jetstar on the news.

[onetrack]

The ABC News article is most certainly centred around just the effect on Jetstar, and it's not an aviation technical report, and it ignores all the other affected airlines. Jetstar are most affected because they own around 90 A320's - but only 34 of the Jetstar A320's are affected by the recall.

 

Virgin only own 4 A320's affected by the recall, and were able to work around those aircraft being pulled from operations for the software revamp. Qantas are not affected, as none of their aircraft are covered by the recall.

[red750]

The problem lies in the aircraft that are grounded in more remote areas where there are no qualified LAME's to do the upgrade. They have to be flown in.

[BurnieM]

It is a problem with the current version of the software in a Thales built box.

The fix seems to be reverting to the previous version.

 

If they have not updated to the current version then they do not have a problem.

 

[facthunter]

Red, What are you basing that on?  Nev

Edited 5 hours ago by facthunter

[BrendAn]

1 hour ago, facthunter said:

The "News" was about Jetstar's A 320's in Australia. Nev

Nev when you flew airliners how reliable were they compared to the modern computerised versions.

 

[facthunter]

WE had Plenty of delays and failures . My (Opinion?) is the Modern stuff is Better in general. I  am still in touch with People flying in Airlines Now. I have flown "Fly by wire".  Nev

[BrendAn]

10 minutes ago, facthunter said:

WE had Plenty of delays and failures . My (Opinion?) is the Modern stuff is Better in general. I  am still in touch with People flying in Airlines Now. I have flown "Fly by wire".  Nev

Sorry. I didn't mean to imply you flew dc3 😁.  You often talk about the 727s.

I guess fly by wire takes a lot potential mechanical failures out of the system.

Edited 5 hours ago by BrendAn

[red750]

An interview with Richard De Crespigny on the news last night.