2010-02 · NASA ASRS report 872220
A Captain and Copilot report about their A320 being dispatched with the Right Wing Anti-ice valve deferred in the wired 'Open' position. The MEL allegedly did not address anything other than Engine Start; Taxi and Takeoff.
Aircraft was dispatched from ZZZ1 in moderate icing conditions with the Right Wing Anti-ice valve deferred. Maintenance in ZZZ deferred the valve by locking it open. Following MEL and ECAM procedures still left the aircraft with hot bleed air being sent into the right wing leading edge through the wired 'Open' wing anti-ice valve. My Copilot and I were not comfortable flying for an extended period of time with a known bleed air leak on the right wing. Based on our experience we decided the safest course of action was to treat this maintenance condition as a bleed air leak. After takeoff and climbout from ZZZ1; in moderate icing conditions; where we used wing anti-ice ['On' for] both bleed valves; we isolated the right wing. Number 2 bleed - Off; Cross bleed valve -Closed; and Pack 2 -Off (although it would be off anyway with no bleed air on the right wing). We flew to ZZZ2 at FL310 (single pack altitude) and we added fuel in ZZZ1 to account for the lower altitude. I feel that the MEL should be readdressed to determine the danger of flying around with a manufactured bleed air leak and just allowing the Bleed Monitoring Computer (BMCs) to monitor and detect an overheat after the damage has already been done. A bleed air leak is one of the most dangerous emergencies that can occur and could possibly lead to a wing fire. I feel that we operated the aircraft in the safest way possible with the Right Wing Anti-Ice valve wired open.
Aircraft was dispatched from ZZZ to ZZZ1 with Wing Anti-ice valve stuck open. Aircraft arrived with significant ice on leading edges of all lifting surfaces as well as significant icing under wing area between engine and hull. Our leg-ZZZ1 to ZZZ2. The MEL did not address anything other than engine start; taxi; and takeoff. MEL should have addressed cruise configurations as well. We decided the only way we'd take aircraft was to isolate the problem and prevent bleed air from entering the wing while flying. During climbout; above icing conditions; we shut the crossbleed; turned off engine bleed 2; turned off Pack 2; cruised to ZZZ2 at FL 10 single pack; with no bleed air on the wing. We left the APU on for added safety precaution. There was a SERIOUS judgment error by the Routers; as well as Dispatch; to send this aircraft into known moderate icing. MEL should address specific configuration at all phases of flight. Simply because something CAN be done; does not mean it SHOULD be done.
More incidents for this aircraft family
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
Loading the flight search…
Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.
We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.
Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.
Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.