EASA Emergency Airworthiness Directive A320

[Homo Aeroportus]

See :
https://www.aviation24.be/manufacturers ... gs-likely/

EASA has just issue an Emergency Airworthiness Directive
EASA AD No.: 2025-0268-E
Effective Date: 29 November 2025 23:59 UTC
Type/Model designation : A319 – A320 – A321

Reason:
An Airbus A320 aeroplane recently experienced an uncommanded and limited pitch down event.
The autopilot remained engaged throughout the event, with a brief and limited loss of altitude, and the rest of the flight was uneventful.
Preliminary technical assessment done by Airbus identified a malfunction of the affected ELAC as possible contributing factor.
This condition, if not corrected, could lead in the worst-case scenario to an uncommanded elevator movement that may result in exceeding the aircraft’s structural capability.
To address this potential unsafe condition, Airbus issued the AOT, providing instructions to install a serviceable ELAC.
For the reason described above, this AD requires installation of a serviceable ELAC and prohibits installation of an affected ELAC.

Busy week-end ahead for Mx crew.

H.A.

[Homo Aeroportus]

Airbus press release :

Toulouse, France, 28 November 2025
Analysis of a recent event involving an A320 Family aircraft has revealed that intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls.

H.A.

[Matt]

Amazing that this got the media attention that it's getting.

In the 35y that the A320 is in service, this problem occured once. And the media goes ballistic. The incident occured because of extreme circumstances, unlikely to happen again.

Airworthiness certificate has not been pulled btw

[Homo Aeroportus]

Airbus has issued an Alert Operators Transmission (AOT).

EASA has issued an Emergency Airworthiness Directive (EAD).

The media have reported the above.

In that order.

H.A.

[Matt]

Airbus has issued an Alert Operators Transmission (AOT).

EASA has issued an Emergency Airworthiness Directive (EAD).

The media have reported the above.

In that order.

H.A.

And we know what that means. True av-geeks and people working in the industry. A lot of "normal" people see the EAD and start panicking. The true meaning of an EAD is almost never explained in the media.

[JOVAN2]

Airbus has issued an Alert Operators Transmission (AOT).

EASA has issued an Emergency Airworthiness Directive (EAD).

The media have reported the above.

In that order.

H.A.

Please explain

And we know what that means. True av-geeks and people working in the industry. A lot of "normal" people see the EAD and start panicking. The true meaning of an EAD is almost never explained in the media.

Please explain.

[longwings]

Amazing that this got the media attention that it's getting.

About 5,000 aircraft need a software update before Sunday to remain legal. A significant headache even if the update itself takes 15 minutes.
Up to 1,000 aircraft will be grounded while the elevator aileron computer is replaced.

I think that's newsworthy if only for the possible disruption to schedules and travel plans.

[fcw]

Amazing that this got the media attention that it's getting.

In the 35y that the A320 is in service, this problem occured once. And the media goes ballistic. The incident occured because of extreme circumstances, unlikely to happen again.

Airworthiness certificate has not been pulled btw

You are taking some serious shortcuts here!
It’s a recent flight control software upgrade, ELAC103 tot 104, which the issue ad as such has nothing to do with an aircraft flying for 35 years. The probability of an incident is quite low indeed, but the outcome could be a lot worse than what happened to JetBlue.
The airworthiness certificate hasn’t been pulled, but all affected aircraft are grounded, except for ferry flights to maintenance facilities, till the modification back to ELAC 103 took place.
There’s no need for panic but dismissing this as clickbait is inappropriate in a world where safety is critical.

[Matt]

Amazing that this got the media attention that it's getting.

In the 35y that the A320 is in service, this problem occured once. And the media goes ballistic. The incident occured because of extreme circumstances, unlikely to happen again.

Airworthiness certificate has not been pulled btw

You are taking some serious shortcuts here!
It’s a recent flight control software upgrade, ELAC103 tot 104, which the issue ad as such has nothing to do with an aircraft flying for 35 years. The probability of an incident is quite low indeed, but the outcome could be a lot worse than what happened to JetBlue.
The airworthiness certificate hasn’t been pulled, but all affected aircraft are grounded, except for ferry flights to maintenance facilities, till the modification back to ELAC 103 took place.
There’s no need for panic but dismissing this as clickbait is inappropriate in a world where safety is critical.

Didn't dismiss it as clickbait. Just overblown, that is all. (and yes, unfortunately, I know of people who are flipping out because of this EAD) I am not a big fan of how media portraits this kind of stuff, as a lot of things are superficial. Yes, the code needs to be patched. Of course, and don't get me wrong. But giving superficial info like that can cause hysteria. That's why I think it's overblown.

The reason why the EAD was issued to ELAC B L104 is an MBU (multiple bit upset due to radiation) . The chances of an MBU happening AND the redundant system not taking over in response just fell outside of the RAMS analysis. The chances of an MBU happening are astronomicaly low. (again, these were extreme circumstances)

L103+ has, indeed, more safety systems in check for this (as code optimisation happened between L104 and L103+ , accidentaly generating some dead code which could be not activated to switch to the redondant system) Too bad this also means the rollback of PALAL (Pitch attitude limitaion in alternate law), which should come back in L105.

Shortcuts? not really... I just have my own opinion (as a avionics software engineer) Let's agree to disagree?

The question I have is how the regression tests did not pick up the de-activated code. (which to me is the true issue, NOT the MBU nor the anomaly that occured, which was a fluke of bad chance)

Please explain.

https://letmeaskaiforyou.com/?q=Emergen ... hType=chat

Since little screaming kids like AI