Former Air Force Pilot Demonstrates Critical Airbus A320 Flight Control Glitch in Real-Time Simulator - Understanding the Solar Radiation Software Issue

Captain (Retd) Ehsan Khalid demonstrating the Airbus A320 glitch at a simulator facility.

A former Indian Air Force pilot has successfully recreated the critical flight-control malfunction in an Airbus A320 simulator that prompted one of the largest safety directives ever issued by the European aircraft manufacturer. During a demonstration at the A320 simulator center located in Noida's DLF Mall, Captain (Retd) Ehsan Khalid meticulously illustrated the exact sequence of technical faults that led to Airbus's unprecedented global grounding of thousands of A320-family aircraft.

In footage shared by PTI news agency, Khalid provides a detailed explanation of how a malfunction within one of the aircraft's essential flight-control computers can cause the aircraft to move without any pilot input. "The problem that has been identified with the 2024 software upgrade is that ELAC 2 contains a software issue," he explains, referring to the Elevator Aileron Computer. "These computers are designed to provide accurate control inputs, display indications, and monitor system faults. They effectively function as the brain and nervous system of the aircraft... When pilots move the control forward, the aircraft pitches downward... If this movement occurs autonomously, we have a serious problem."

Guiding viewers through the simulator panel, Khalid identifies the critical components involved. "These are the elevator and aileron computer systems, computer number 1 and computer number 2... This is ELAC 1... and this is ELAC 2. These represent the two computer interaction panels. ELAC 1 manages the aircraft's rolling motion, while ELAC 2 controls pitching. However, if one computer experiences failure, the other can assume both functions." He emphasizes that the fault specifically resides in the second unit. "ELAC 2... has a software problem... These systems effectively serve as the aircraft's brain and nervous system."

VIDEO | Delhi: Former Pilot Ehsan Khalid demonstrates a complete fault scenario and its consequences on the Airbus A320 flight Simulator at DLF Mall of India, Noida. He says, "... The problem that has been found with the software upgrade of 2024, that ELAC 2 is having a software…

What Triggered Airbus's Directive

This demonstration follows the real-world incident that compelled Airbus to instruct operators to ground over 6,000 A320-family aircraft worldwide.

The directive was issued following an incident involving a JetBlue A320 in October, when the aircraft suddenly pitched nose-down without any pilot input. The flight diverted to Tampa, and subsequent investigation revealed that data corruption within the ELAC 2 computer had triggered the unexpected maneuver.

Airbus engineers later connected the issue to intense solar radiation, which can interfere with software operations on certain ELAC units at cruising altitudes. This interference can corrupt data pathways, causing the aircraft to interpret erroneous values as legitimate control inputs.

How The Glitch Works

The A320 employs multiple backup computers to maintain aircraft stability, with ELAC units being particularly crucial as they control the aircraft's pitch and roll movements. The problem occurs when elevated levels of solar radiation interfere with the ELAC software. During periods of intense solar activity, microscopic charged particles can penetrate the aircraft's electronic systems and disrupt the computer's data verification processes.

This precise scenario unfolded during the JetBlue incident. The ELAC 2 computer received corrupted data and processed it as if the pilot had commanded a nose-down maneuver, despite no one touching the controls. The aircraft abruptly descended before the flight crew responded and regained manual control.

Although such radiation spikes are uncommon occurrences, Airbus determined that the risk of an uncommanded movement presented a sufficient safety concern to warrant immediate action across the entire fleet.