Indian Airlines Rush to Address A-320 Safety Concerns After EU Warning
An emergency airworthiness directive from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has impacted hundreds of Airbus planes operated by Air India and IndiGo. According to sources, both airlines plan to complete the required inspections by the end of the day, with no flight cancellations expected. Any delays resulting from the directive are anticipated to be under 30 minutes.
The emergency airworthiness directive (EAD) has ordered the temporary grounding of as many as 6,000 Airbus A320-family aircraft worldwide until essential flight control repairs are completed. In a notice labeled 'most urgent,' the civil aviation regulator DGCA issued a mandatory modification directive to all airlines, instructing them to inspect and replace the component known as 'ATA 27,' which involves the flight controls and the elevator aileron computer.
The impacted Airbus models include the A318, A319, A320, and A321/5. According to a statement from Air India, its engineers have been working continuously to finish the task as quickly as possible. The airline reported that more than 40 percent of the affected aircraft have already undergone the reset, and expressed confidence in completing the entire fleet within the deadline set by EASA.
Air India confirmed that no flights have been canceled due to this task, and the overall schedule across its network remains largely unaffected. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency issued its alert following a midair incident last month involving an A-320 traveling from Cancun to Newark. While cruising at 35,000 feet, the aircraft unexpectedly pitched nose-down without pilot intervention, resulting in a short but alarming loss of altitude before diverting safely to Tampa.
Investigators focused on a malfunction in the elevator aileron computer (ELAC), an essential system that converts pilot inputs into movements of the aircraft’s wings and tail. Airbus’ inquiry uncovered a surprising cause — powerful solar radiation can interfere with the ELAC’s newly updated software, altering vital data bits and potentially triggering unintended maneuvers that might strain the aircraft’s structure.
