Airbus A320 Jet Cockpit Power Failures Revealed , Fixes Still not Done
Airbus A320 Cockpit
Airbus A320 aircraft have suffered an alarming number of almost total cockpit power failures since 2008 and after an order by aviation authorities in the United States and Europe to have them fixed in 4 years time they have yet to be completed.
The story by the Associated Press frankly paints a scary picture of not only the possible disaster that looms but the frustrations in actually fixing the problem.
An account from two United Airlines pilots:
‘As United Flight 731 climbed out of Newark with 107 people aboard, the pilot and first officer were startled to find screens that display crucial navigational information were blank or unreadable and radios were dead.
They had no way to communicate with air traffic controllers or detect other planes around them in the New York City area’s crowded airspace.
“I made a comment to the captain about steering clear of New York City, not wanting to get shot down by USAF fighters,” first officer Douglas Cochran later told investigators. He wasn’t joking: “We both felt an extreme urgency to get this aircraft on the ground as soon as possible.”
Within minutes, Cochran and the captain had turned around and safely landed the Denver-bound Airbus A320 at the Newark airport. Cochran later told investigators that clear weather might have been the only thing that saved them from a crash.’
More than 50 episodes involving the planes, which first went into service more than two decades ago, have been reported.
While there have been no accidents attributed to the failures, U.S. pilots unions wanted the problem fixed within 2 years.
The FAA rejected that.
Aviation safety consultant Douglas Moss said the FAA should have acted a lot more quickly.
“These things cost money and the industry is in bad shape, so you have the economics thrown into it. But if the end result is higher airfares and higher cost of transportation, then that is the price we have to pay to ensure a safe transport system,” said Moss, a California-based commercial pilot with 34 years’ experience, including 14 years flying Airbuses.
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Image: Flickr [curimedia]
Category: Airnation
Hi All:
Unfortunately this situation has been on going for quite sometime. FAA seems to be looking the other way and because this is a foreign aircraft manufacturer (AIRBUS) little has been done
Blank screens, auto pilot failures have been numerous with glass cockpit aircraft. The problems lead back to software problems and poor maintenance of electronic systems
Since over seas third world maintenance facilities have little expertize in electronics the problems continue or are missed entirely.
Airbus was in the news back in 1987 when a Airbus 300 crashed because of software problems with the fly by wire system……
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxlBhucGayA
There have been failure after failure and crashes occurred that have killed hundreds of people over the years! HUNDREDS !
Why are there still problems? Where is the FAA? Why isn’t Airbus doing something?
It is all because of money!
Rich Wyeroski
The American certification of the Airbus was a fiasco generated within the halls of 800 Independence Ave. Money was flowing pretty rapidly among friends. Kind of like the Eclipse but on a much larger scale.
The fix will impact revenue for the airlines so Mr. Huerta and his sycophants will bend to the financial pressures exerted by the airliners operating the Airbus. The fix belongs to Airbus but the delay belongs to the FAA. And the Senate would even consider this present management structure for a five year assignment? Lets work our way down until we find someone with just a bit of aviation know how and a reasonable level of integrity. Or not. Then we can just wait until we have the big one and all the minions from DC on down will have the deer in the headlights look when asked how it could have happened with all this prior information and knowledge of the shortcomings they overlooked.
It’s funny, when I look at the FAA and foreign aircraft manufacturers and third world maintenance facilities the playing field is far from even!
FAA looks the other way on inferior overseas maintenance and the pure fact that Airbus is owned by FRANCE, GERMANY, ENGLAND and SPAIN is an unfair advantage. It seams like a US Corporation like Boeing has to always fight up hill!
Boeing is successful, but no thanks the the Minions at 800 Independence Avenue in Washington
When will we put “OUR” country first and help our companies here at home!
The back room deals with the FAA and Airbus will come out for all to see one day!
All that blood money on the bodies of the innocent.
Richard Wyeroski
Rich Wyeroski
It’s ridiculous! They have FOUR years to fix the planes and they can’t do it? Airbus makes BILLIONS! It’s their fault if something malfunctions to the point where they could hit another plane. Insanity!
Ground them, and all US airlines will think long and hard about doing business with Airbus in the future when they can’t fly their fleets. It’s a bitter pill, but nothing else gets a major corporation’s attention other than to turn their piggy bank on its side.
This is definitely a BIG issue that Airbus needs to address. Considering the A320 is a fly-by-wire aircraft, electronics are essential to sustaining flight. At least these planes have redundant mechanical gauges for heading, airspeed and altitude- but still, now that pilots have become so desensitized and dependent on electronics, most will have difficulty landing in windy, snowy, dark conditions on 3 instruments.
Here’s an ATC recording i found of an A320 crew suffering from this “blackout” of their instruments… Everyone, take a sec and listen to this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oq_xEkLRLQ
Airbus, please do something about this… I love your A320, it’s a fantastic aircraft, but don’t make the same mistake you made with your A330/340 pitot tubes which caused so many problems on AF447… You’re aware of this problem, so fix it before it causes a crash!