A319 flight crew reported after takeoff the Captain's Primary Flight Display began to flicker and noticed a burning smell. They decided to return to the departure airport.
Synopsis
A319 flight crew reported after takeoff the Captain's Primary Flight Display began to flicker and noticed a burning smell. They decided to return to the departure airport.
Narrative
Shortly after departure; the Captain's PFD (Primary Flight Display) began to flicker. At around 7;000 feet the PFD went blank and there was a brief electrical burning smell; but no smoke was visible. We made the decision to advise ATC and return to ZZZ. We suspected that the smell was coming from the PFD; so the captain shut the PFD off to attempt to isolate the problem.We requested priority handling. ATC instructed us to descend to 6;000 feet and provided vectors back to ZZZ. I flew the aircraft while the captain notified Dispatch and the flight attendants; and loaded the ILS for Runway XXC.We received vectors to ILS XXC. We landed safely with no issues. Once stopped on Taxiway 1; the Captain made an announcement to the passengers. We established communication with fire rescue and let them know that the burning smell had not come back. They followed us to Gate XX. Once parked; fire rescue boarded the plane. They used a device to determine that there was no heat coming from the instruments. The Captain made the decision to have the passengers deplane the aircraft with their belongings.During our debrief we both agreed that it was not a good idea to operate the ZZZ1 turn. We both had been up late and were feeling fatigue from this event.
Second reporter narrative
PFD (Primary Flight Display) replaced at gate before departure from previous inbound write up for dim screen on cap side. Maintenance finished up their checks after replacing cap PFD. We departed to ZZZ1 on Runway XX from ZZZ and climbing through 6000 ft noticed very strong electrical smell and Cap PFD flickering. We turned off screen and requested priority handling with ATC and requested immediate return to field on Runway XYC. Dispatch was notified; FA and passengers informed and landed without incident in the next 10minutes. Taxied to Gate XX. Maintenance came up to cockpit and turned on screen and immediately got the strong electrical burning smell.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.