An A319 Captain's Pitot System failed followed shortly by the Air Data Reference 1 (ADR1) failure. The Flight Crew continued to their destination in Alternate Law.

Date: 2009-07 · Aircraft: A319 · Phase: cruise

Anomalies: aircraft-equipment-problem-critical

Synopsis

An A319 Captain's Pitot System failed followed shortly by the Air Data Reference 1 (ADR1) failure. The Flight Crew continued to their destination in Alternate Law.

Narrative

We were in cruise flight; west of ICT when we received an ECAM that the captains pitot system failed. The result was a loss of associated PFD indications. We assigned flying duties and followed ECAM procedures. We switched the Captain's instruments to ADR3 per ECAM and all indications returned to normal. A few minutes later; we lost ADR1. We were in Alternate Law. We noticed that the circuit breaker for the Captain's Pitot System was poppped. I contacted Company and talked to Dispatch and Maintenance Control. Maintenance Control advised us NOT to reset the circuit breaker; we agreed with that advice. We determined that we would continue to our destination since the weather was clear and dry the remainder of the route. We monitored our instruments and flight controls carefully the rest of the flight. We spent considerable time briefing our approach as we were going to degrade to direct law. We briefed the first flight attendant of the situation. We also advised Approach Control. The approach and landing were as briefed and uneventful. This is a system failure.

NASA callback

The reporter stated that first the Captain's pitot system malfunction occurred. The ANTI ICE CAPT PITOT checklist was complied with and ADR3 was supplying the Captain's instruments. About 15-20 minutes later the ADR1 ECAM alerted. That ECAM was complied with; but because the Captain was already on ADR3 there were few remaining items for that failure to be completed. When they finished a status message was present about the aircraft transitioning to Alternate Law and they could also see the indications on the PFD. What they did not understand is why the transition to Alternate Law and then Direct Law occurred as a result of a single ADR failure. That should have only occurred with two ADR failures. On the ground maintenance reset the Pitot Heat circuit breaker and signed the discrepancies off as 'OPS CHECKED GOOD.' The aircraft was then released for flight. This aircraft did not have a history of either Pitot or ADR failures.

More incidents for this aircraft family →

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.