Airbus planes must get their power cables checked after one failed in flight

US aviation regulators are tightening rules for certain Airbus planes, requiring inspections and potential repairs of power cables for their variable frequency generators. This means operators of these planes must now actively check and fix these specific cables to prevent power loss during flight.

A single in-flight power cable failure on an Airbus plane has led to a mandatory inspection and repair order for all similar aircraft. This shifts the burden from reactive maintenance to proactive checks, ensuring a known vulnerability is addressed before it causes more incidents. It also means that airlines cannot dispatch these planes if certain power systems are already showing issues, closing a loophole that allowed flights with known, but previously permissible, faults.