Narrative:

During engine start adr 1 faulted repeatedly. Contacted maintenance control and did a successful com reset followed by an info only write up. Within a minute of taxi adr 1 faulted again. Contacted maintenance control. They wanted to do another reset but I declined. This had been written up previously as well. We returned to the gate where maintenance began another reset. I expressed my concern that we had a history of resets and failures...they said well then we are going to defer it. They swapped number one and three adr as one is non deferrable. Upon review first officer and I became concerned as the MEL states effectivity A320 and subsequent. We were in A320. Contacted maintenance control; he was unsure and consulted his supervisor who said it's good. I asked where I could find a reference to this as first officer and I had been digging through the MEL preamble to confirm the validity. We could not. We then contacted dispatch; asked for both amendment for time and MEL and expressed our concern over the verbiage. I then contacted crew schedule and asked to be transferred to the chief pilot on duty. They asked if I wanted the number and I said yes but also to transfer me. I was connected to a chief pilot not on duty. He asked me (reasonably) to contact the chief pilot who was on duty. I called the number provided by schedule and again was greeted by the same voice. He provided me with the number for the chief pilot on duty. I then called him. He referenced the MEL and did some research and ascertained we were good to go. Shortly after liftoff adr 1 failed resulting in a cascade of additional failures. Gear stuck down; direct law; man trim; no auto thrust and of course; no instrumentation for the captain (PF). I established a positive flight trajectory; confirmed the first officer had reasonable indications from adr 2 (our newest best friend) and transferred control. We established a box pattern while we worked through the ECAM and com including landing distance procedures. We returned to the departure airport; chose to brace the passengers; and landed uneventfully. Back end crew did an outstanding job managing passengers as well as following SOP and protocol. First officer displayed excellent airmanship and CRM. Truly did a great job.I felt as though we were completely on our own trying to resolve the maint issue prior to flight. During the event dispatch had ATC relay that they wanted us to contact them. Just the teeniest bit too busy for that. Seems like they might have preemptively sent us an acars with landing data as a backup to the charts. That would have been helpful.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: During engine start an A320 ADR 1 failed so the crew returned to the gate where Maintenance moved ADR 1 to the ADR 3 position; and ADR 3 to ADR 1 position. ADR 1's history included multiple resets so the crew objected but were released by the Chief Pilot and Maintenance. After takeoff; ADR 1 and ADR 3 both failed; so the flight completed the ECAMs and returned to land.

Narrative: During engine start ADR 1 faulted repeatedly. Contacted Maintenance Control and did a successful com reset followed by an info only write up. Within a minute of taxi ADR 1 faulted again. Contacted Maintenance Control. They wanted to do another reset but I declined. This had been written up previously as well. We returned to the gate where maintenance began another reset. I expressed my concern that we had a history of resets and failures...they said well then we are going to defer it. They swapped number one and three ADR as one is non deferrable. Upon review FO and I became concerned as the MEL states effectivity A320 and subsequent. We were in A320. Contacted Maintenance Control; he was unsure and consulted his Supervisor who said it's good. I asked where I could find a reference to this as FO and I had been digging through the MEL preamble to confirm the validity. We could not. We then contacted Dispatch; asked for both amendment for time and MEL and expressed our concern over the verbiage. I then contacted crew schedule and asked to be transferred to the chief pilot on duty. They asked if I wanted the number and I said yes but also to transfer me. I was connected to a chief pilot not on duty. He asked me (reasonably) to contact the chief pilot who WAS on duty. I called the number provided by schedule and again was greeted by the same voice. He provided me with the number for the chief pilot on duty. I then called him. He referenced the MEL and did some research and ascertained we were good to go. Shortly after liftoff ADR 1 failed resulting in a cascade of additional failures. Gear stuck down; direct law; man trim; no auto thrust and of course; no instrumentation for the Captain (PF). I established a positive flight trajectory; confirmed the FO had reasonable indications from ADR 2 (our newest best friend) and transferred control. We established a box pattern while we worked through the ECAM and com including landing distance procedures. We returned to the departure airport; chose to brace the passengers; and landed uneventfully. Back end crew did an outstanding job managing passengers as well as following SOP and protocol. FO displayed excellent airmanship and CRM. Truly did a great job.I felt as though we were completely on our own trying to resolve the maint issue prior to flight. During the event dispatch had ATC relay that they wanted us to contact them. Just the teeniest bit too busy for that. Seems like they might have preemptively sent us an acars with landing data as a backup to the charts. That would have been helpful.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.