A Delta Air Lines Airbus A220-100 suffered a navigation malfunction mid-flight on November 21st, 2019. The Airbus A220 was near Salt Lake City, Utah when the crew decided to divert due to an issue with the onboard navigation system.
A Delta A220 navigation malfunction
The Aviation Herald reports that a Delta Airbus A220 en route from Denver, Colorado to Seattle, Washington diverted to Salt Lake City. Registration N124DU was operating flight DL2665 when, while over Idaho, the crew diverted to Salt Lake City, Utah.
While at 36,000 feet the crew discovered problems with the navigation systems onboard the Airbus A220. As a result, the best course of action was to divert. A passenger report, as indicated by the Aviation Herald, indicates that the inflight entertainment system available via seatback screen indicated the route change to Salt Lake City prior to the captain announcing the change. According to the passenger, the captain announced that they needed to divert to an airport with "VFR" weather.
In Salt Lake City, passengers were accommodated onto another Delta Airbus A220 which reached Seattle with a delay of about five hours.
Issues with the A220
The A220, formerly the Bombardier CSeries, has received some publicity lately due to engine issues that have affected, most notably, SWISS. However, this navigation system fault is new. It does not appear that this is a widespread problem, however. Rather, it appears that this was an issue affecting this single flight.
Data from Flightradar24 indicates that the A220 involved remained on the ground in Salt Lake City and will return to service on November 23, 2019, with a flight from Salt Lake City to Orange County (SNA).
VFR weather
For those unfamiliar with the terminology, VFR stands for "visual flight rules." These are a set of guidelines put out by the United States Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, that sets out the minimum visibility distance for aircraft operations.
It is unclear exactly what went wrong with the A220, however, if there was an issue with the navigation system dealing with the A220's instrument landing system, pilots would need to land at an airport sufficient for a visual approach given the weather.
Overall
It is unclear what led to the diversion. However, it appears that the issue pulled the aircraft out of service for a couple of days. Overall, there were no reported passenger injuries. And, Delta was able to provide an alternate aircraft to transport the passengers.
Were you onboard this Delta A220 flight? Let us know in the comments!