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Airworthiness Directive DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Aviation Administration 14 CFR Part 39 [Docket No. FAA-2008-0046; Directorate Identifier 2007-NM-270-AD;Amendment 39-15650; AD 2008-17-12] Airworthiness Directives; Airbus Model A318, A319, A320, and A321 Series Airplanes Equipped With Certain Northrop Grumman (Formerly Litton) Air Data Inertial Reference Units DATES: This AD becomes effective October 2, 2008. SUMMARY: The FAA is superseding an existing airworthiness directive (AD), which applies to certain Airbus Model A319, A320, and A321 series airplanes equipped with certain Litton air data inertial reference units (ADIRUs). That AD currently requires modifying the shelf (floor panel) above ADIRU 3, modifying the polycarbonate guard...

The Air France disaster should be watched very closely as there are numerous political implications in the aircraft industry. The Australian is reporting investigators may be looking at the Airbus Air Data Inertial Reference Unit (ADIRU) System that sent a Qantas A330 on a wild ride over Western Australia last year. The Qantas incident last October, and another in December last year also involving an Airbus 330 near Western Australia, involved a problem with a unit called an air data inertial reference unit, which prompted flight control computers to twice pitch down the nose of one of the jets. Fast...