Airbus A330 operators are to be instructed to update software on flight-control computers in order to reduce the risk of undetected blockage of angle-of-attack sensors.

The proposed order from the European Aviation Safety Agency covers the A330-200 and -300 variants and follows the discovery that sensor blockage could, under certain circumstances, lead to unexpected activation of angle-of-attack protection.

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Although Airbus developed new software standards for enhanced angle-of-attack monitoring, EASA says – in some cases – blockages "were not detected" by this revised system.

Airbus has since upgraded the software to improve further the detection capability, and has issued service bulletins to implement the modifications on the in-service A330 fleet.

EASA is intending to order modification, within a year, of the three primary flight-control computers on the type.By the end of September Airbus had delivered 653 A330-200s – including 38 freighters – and 715 A330-300s.