Ita Airways’ Airbus A320 on which Pope Leo
This aircraft is one of 6,000 aircraft in the A320 family that, according to several sources, needs to update its flight control system, after the discovery of a computer security vulnerability linked to exposure to intense solar radiation.
For this reason, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni confirmed that “they will replace one of the components of the plane that is flying to Istanbul with a technician who will do the replacement.”
Airbus explained that this is a preventive measure that was adopted after a technical accident that occurred at the end of October on an aircraft in the United States, which “revealed that unusually high solar activity could corrupt basic data used by flight commands.”
The Pope is in Istanbul on the third day of his visit to Turkey, and he intends to travel on Sunday on the plane he took from Rome to Beirut.
PFP/AP