Aviation Law Group has been investigating the potential effects of solar radiation and space weather events on modern fly-by-wire flight control systems following widely reported events involving JetBlue Flight 1230 on October 30, 2025. During that flight, the aircraft experienced a sudden, uncommanded pitch anomaly and loss of control. Although the flight diverted safely to Tampa, Florida, the abrupt pitch changes caused multiple passengers to suffer severe injuries, several of which required hospitalization.
Aviation Law Group now represents passengers on JetBlue 1230 and are pursuing claims for compensation for the injuries they sustained in the accident.
While preliminary analyses by the NTSB have associated with an intense solar flare event occurring at or near the time of the loss of control, the investigation continues, and many questions remain as to why this accident occurred.
As aircraft systems become more technologically sophisticated and more dependent on sensors, software, and uninterrupted data flows, events like this raise complex questions at the intersection of aviation engineering, space weather forecasting, and international aviation law.
The Legal Landscape of International Flights
The accident aboard JetBlue 1230 occurred as it operated from Cancun, Mexico, to Newark, New Jersey. As it was an international flight, the rights and remedies available to the passengers are likely subject to international law, specifically the Montreal Convention. Importantly, both the United States and Mexico are parties to the Montreal Convention.
The Montreal Convention of 1999 is an international treaty that provides the modern framework governing international air travel. It has been adopted by 141 nations and provides uniform rules governing passenger rights and airline liability across borders. It establishes a two-tier liability system for passenger injuries occurring during international flights and significantly modernized the scope of recoverable damages.
Tier One: Strict Liability
Under the first tier of the Montreal Convention, airlines are strictly liable for passenger injuries occurring onboard international flights up to a specified monetary threshold. Crucially, liability turns on whether an “accident” occurred and caused injury, and not on whether the passengers can prove negligence by the airline.
An unexpected, uncommanded aircraft movement, such as a sudden pitch anomaly, will often satisfy the Convention’s definition of an “accident,” thereby triggering automatic liability.
Importantly, the Montreal Convention expanded recoverable damages beyond the narrower interpretations that developed under its predecessor. Where previous law may have limited recovery to tangible bodily harm and sharply constrained claims for emotional distress, Montreal now recognizes compensation for mental injury. Emotional suffering, psychological trauma, and related non-physical harms may therefore be compensable, particularly where they accompany or flow from a physical injury.
Tier Two: Presumed Fault Above the Threshold
For damages exceeding the first-tier cap, the burden shifts to the airline to prove either that the damage was not due to its negligence or that the damage was caused solely by the negligence of a third party. At this stage, technical issues such as space weather forecasting, aircraft design, operational decision-making, and regulatory compliance become legally significant.
Fly-By-Wire Systems and Emerging Space Weather Risks
Modern commercial aircraft, including the Airbus A320 involved in JetBlue Flight 1230, rely heavily on fly-by-wire systems. These systems replace traditional mechanical flight controls with electronic signaling and computer-mediated inputs. While designed with multiple redundancies and fault-tolerance protections, fly-by-wire systems are inherently dependent on accurate sensor data, stable electrical systems, reliable data transmission, and adequate shielding from electromagnetic interference.
As discussed in ALG’s prior article, solar flares and related space weather phenomena can generate high-energy radiation and geomagnetic disturbances capable of disrupting avionics, satellite-based navigation systems, and onboard electronics. Although aviation regulators and manufacturers have long acknowledged these risks, incidents like Flight 1230 invite renewed scrutiny into whether existing safeguards are sufficient and whether airlines are adequately accounting for known space weather hazards.
The Role of NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center in Aviation Safety
The effects of solar radiation on aviation technology have been understood for decades: long enough that government agencies have actively monitored these phenomena for many years.
While many aviation hazards originate within Earth’s atmosphere, space weather events such as solar flares, coronal mass ejections (CMEs), and geomagnetic storms originate well beyond it. Monitoring and forecasting these phenomena is the responsibility of the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
SWPC serves as the United States’ primary authority for space weather forecasting, providing real-time monitoring, alerts, and predictive guidance regarding solar activity that can affect aviation operations. Its forecasts are relied upon by airlines, air traffic managers, satellite operators, and government agencies worldwide.
SWPC tracks and forecasts space weather phenomena that pose known risks to aviation, including solar flares, which can disrupt high-frequency (HF) radio communications, coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which can trigger geomagnetic storms, solar energetic particle (SEP) events, which increase radiation exposure at flight altitudes, and geomagnetic disturbances, which may interfere with navigation systems and avionics.
These risks are particularly relevant to international routes, where reliance on HF communications and satellite navigation is greatest, and at higher altitudes where radiation exposure is elevated. Through alerts, watches, warnings, and forecast discussions, SWPC provides advance notice of conditions that may necessitate route changes, altitude adjustments, or operational restrictions.
Why SWPC Matters in Aviation Liability
From a legal standpoint, SWPC data and advisories may play a central role in evaluating airline responsibility following an in-flight incident linked to space weather effects. SWPC forecasts may inform determinations regarding the foreseeability of hazardous space weather conditions, whether airlines had access to timely, authoritative government warnings, whether operational decisions such as flight routing, system redundancy management, or continuation of flight were reasonable under the circumstances
Unlike clear air turbulence, space weather risks are increasingly predictable, and airlines should begin integrating SWPC guidance into their operational planning, particularly for aircraft that rely heavily on fly-by-wire systems, satellite navigation, and electronic flight controls.
Looking Forward: Aviation Technology and Accountability
The events surrounding JetBlue Flight 1230 highlight an evolving reality in commercial aviation: technological advancement often introduces new categories of risk. As aircraft systems grow more complex, so too does the legal analysis surrounding failure modes, external interference, and passenger safety.
For injured passengers, international treaties like the Montreal Convention provide powerful protections. For airlines and manufacturers, these incidents underscore the importance of continually reassessing how emerging scientific knowledge, whether atmospheric or solar, should inform aircraft design, pilot training, and operational protocols.
While the aircraft manufacturer involved in JetBlue Flight 1230 has reportedly issued a bulletin requiring immediate airline maintenance and intervention to address the potential issues that led to the incident, significant questions remain. Among them is whether airlines must adopt more vigilant space weather monitoring practices and integrate real-time solar alerts into flight planning and operational software.
Aviation Law Group continues to monitor developments in this area as investigations proceed, and the legal implications of space weather and advanced flight control systems come into sharper focus.
About Aviation Law Group
Aviation Law Group, P.S. (ALG), is a law firm dedicated exclusively to aviation accident litigation. Our attorneys have decades of experience handling aviation crash cases, turbulence injury claims, and matters governed by international treaties such as the Montreal Convention.
ALG currently represents injured families on JetBlue 1230 and is uniquely qualified to assist individuals affected by incidents involving the Airbus A320 series of aircraft. Attorneys Christopher Rusing and Brendan Keegan collectively have several thousand hours of experience, both piloting and instructing on the complex systems inherent to the A320 series. In addition, Brendan Keegan has experience studying and analyzing exoatmospheric anomalies as a Research Assistant with Baylor University’s Space Weather Research Laboratory (SWERL).
ALG has offices in Washington, Hawaii, and Florida, with attorneys licensed in Washington, California, Hawaii, Alaska, and Florida, and can represent clients in all 50 states. It has also represented many clients internationally through the association of local counsel.