New Delhi:The European Union Safety Agency (EASA) on Friday issued an emergency airworthiness directive that temporarily grounds up to 6,000 Airbus A320 aircraft worldwide until critical flight control fixes are made.

This means that half of the global fleet of the world's best-selling airliner could be sidelined until there is a software or a hardware fix.

In a statement, the EASA said, "An Airbus A320 aeroplane recently experienced an uncommanded and limited pitch-down event. The autopilot remained engaged throughout the event, with a brief and limited loss of altitude, and the rest of the flight was uneventful."

The EASA added that a preliminary technical assessment done by Airbus identified a malfunction of the affected Elevator Aileron Computer (ELAC) as the possible contributing factor.

Source:Ndtv