A319 flight crew experiences ECAM's upon gear retraction after takeoff. ECAM's included LGCIU #1; EGPWS; Pitot faults; #1 Reverser fault; and other non ECAM system faults.

Date: 2010-12 · Aircraft: A319 · Phase: initial_climb

Anomalies: aircraft-equipment-problem-critical

Synopsis

A319 flight crew experiences ECAM's upon gear retraction after takeoff. ECAM's included LGCIU #1; EGPWS; Pitot faults; #1 Reverser fault; and other non ECAM system faults.

Narrative

After gear retraction; we received multiple ECAM's associated with LGCIU #1 [Landing Gear Control Interface Unit] failure. First fault listed at the top of the ECAM screen was a 'EGPWS Terrain fault'; then LGCIU 1 Fault; then Captain PITOT; First Officer PITOT; Standby PITOT faults followed by #1 Reverser Fault and other non ECAM system failures. Captain executed ECAM's as best he could while I flew (auto pilot on). ECAM gave no direction (nor did Maintenance) about recycling the Landing Gear to switch controlling LGCIU's so we didn't. Flight Manual has no information about all pitot heat systems inoperative with this LGCIU #1 failure. Flight Manual's irregular procedure for All Pitot Heat Inoperative says expect icing could be the cause and proceeds to tell you to turn off (good) ADC's to prevent a data conflict in icing conditions. ECAM procedures for pitot failures direct Air Data Switching to Captain 3 but failure of Standby Pitot didn't fix problem.The Flight Manual does not sufficiently address the LGCIU failures to include All Pitot Inoperative; and Maintenance direction to regain pitot systems failed. Our VFR no clouds/no moisture/no icing December morning departure could have had a very different ending and our Flight Manual gave us no help. I recommend that our flight's data information be retained for case study to fix this significant issue. We returned with a normal approach and landing having verified the gear was down with the LGCIU #2 indications on the ECAM wheels page.

Second reporter narrative

There is an ECAM for anti-ice all pitot which we feel should have been displayed for this event. Each of the three faults caused a separate switch movement which conflicts with the previous. The all pitot fault has a different list of steps. It did cause some confusion in the cockpit. Since all seemed to be in operation we left well enough alone and landed; Maintenance says the LGCUI fault trips all the anti-ice but I have had this fault many times and no associated inoperative systems outside those listed in the Flight Manual. If in fact you can lose all you pitot with one fault; perhaps a rewire is in order.

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