A321 crew reported an electrical malfunction during the climb resulting in an electrical odor and various components including the cabin lavatories unpowered. The flight diverted to an alternate airport and landed.
Synopsis
A321 crew reported an electrical malfunction during the climb resulting in an electrical odor and various components including the cabin lavatories unpowered. The flight diverted to an alternate airport and landed.
Narrative
After departing ZZZ; and shortly after climbing through some weather (light to moderate rain; light to moderate turbulence; and maybe a trace of icing in a narrow altitude range) we were met with multiple ECAM messages in rapid succession. As we started with our non-normal phraseology; some of the messages went away; with 3 or 4 staying persistent. There was an acute odor; but no visible smoke. The odor came on quickly; but then began to dissipate slowly; so we determined that we did not need to don our oxygen masks.The Captain; who was initially pilot flying; gave the aircraft and radioes to me in order to focus on the problem. I requested to level off at FL250; thinking that we might possibly decide to return to ZZZ. After working through the ECAM messages; it appeared that the electrical anomaly had been isolated. We did not have any smoke or new odor; every main electrical bus was powered; we still had 2 good generators; but the Galley bus had been shed. We determined that we were in a safe state to continue; but the Captain attempted to contact dispatch and maintenance for confirmation and concurrence. When they agreed with the situation; we continued our climb to eventually reach FL350. A short time later; the Flight Attendants advised us that we had no ability to flush the lavatories. With about 2 hours remaining; we decided that we needed to divert to ZZZ1. We decided to request priority handling because we initially thought we would be landing overweight. After talking it through; we agreed that the nature of the non-normal did not warrant an immediate landing overweight; so we took the time to burn off the excess gas to make a normal landing in ZZZ1.The landing was smooth and there were no further developments on the taxi to the gate. Upon reaching the gate and after engine shutdown; we could detect the odor again but just slightly. Meanwhile; the mechanics outside said that the odor was much stronger inside the avionics bay.Cause: The event seems to be rooted completely around the failure of TR2 (Transformer Rectifier 2). Multiple systems were affected; but most were recovered.
Second reporter narrative
Climbing out of about 22000 we experienced several computer faults. There was a strong smell of electrical burning that started to dissipate but came back stronger after we landed. Our TR 2 (Transformer Rectifier 2) failed; FAC 2 (Flight Augmentation Computer 2); L/G LGCIU 2 (Landing Gear Control Interface Unit 2); internet failed and the LAVS (Lavatory) stopped flushing. With all the electrical issues we requested priority handling and landed in ZZZ.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.