PU 13: The Cosmic Ray That Broke the A320

Three aircraft of the A320 family of jetliners (Airbus)

How a programming mistake in an avionics software update combined with a stray neutron from outer space to take down the best-selling passenger jet in the world. And no, it wasn’t a solar flare!

Punching Upwards, Episode 13 for 7 December 2025

Topic: Aviation

Credits

Thanks to Michael Mullan-Jensen, Fadi Mansour and Evgeny Kuznetsov for subscribing to the podcast on Substack and supporting it financially! Additional thanks to Sir Galteran who continues to provide financial backing via Fountain.fm!

Sources

1. Emergency Airworthiness Directive 2025-24-51, FAA, 28 November 2025

2. Emergency Airworthiness Directive 2025-0268-E, EASA, 28 November 2025

3. Accident: Jetblue A320 near Tampa on Oct 30th 2025, inflight upset causes injuries, The Aviation Herald, 31 October 2025

4. Airbus rush to update A320 software after plane’s sudden altitude drop, France 24, 29 November 2025

5. Should every computer chip have a cosmic ray detector? (archive.org copy), New Scientist, 7 March 2008

6. Critical vulnerability in Airbus A320: downgrade or replace a Thales ELAC “before next flight” ✈️👊🌞🛬💥, Eye on Cyber, 29 November 2025

Terrestrial cosmic rays, J. F. Ziegler, IBM Journal of Research and Development, January 1996

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