A319 dispatcher and first officer reported multiple equipment failures and had difficulty communicat...

Narrative:

Aircraft called on arinc and requested a phone patch with maintenance control. The autopilot and auto throttle disconnected; dual flight director failure; and had a landing gear retract EICAS message. Maintenance control recommended running the FMGC (flight management and guidance computer) dual failure checklist in the QRH. The checklist was run by the crew; and it was not able to clear the faults. We addressed the landing gear retract fault message with the landing gear shock absorber fault checklist in the QRH. Since the gear had been retracted and the fault did not appear until well into the flight there was not much we could do with that checklist. Dispatcher and captain [advised ATC]. Dispatcher also recommended running the landing with abnormal landing gear checklist so he crew could be prepared early. Flight landed and taxied to the gate with an arff escort. Dispatcher and crew had difficulty communicating over arinc. It took almost an hour from when the first call came in to the end of the phone patch. We used multiple frequencies. The longest period we lost contact was for about 10 minutes. Dispatcher lost contact with crew a without realizing it at least once; since he was talking to maintenance control about what options were.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A319 Dispatcher and First Officer reported multiple equipment failures and had difficulty communicating via phone patch over ARINC.

Narrative: Aircraft called on ARINC and requested a phone patch with Maintenance Control. The autopilot and auto throttle disconnected; dual flight director failure; and had a Landing Gear Retract EICAS message. Maintenance Control recommended running the FMGC (Flight Management and Guidance Computer) Dual Failure Checklist in the QRH. The checklist was run by the crew; and it was not able to clear the faults. We addressed the Landing Gear Retract fault message with the Landing Gear Shock Absorber Fault Checklist in the QRH. Since the gear had been retracted and the fault did not appear until well into the flight there was not much we could do with that checklist. Dispatcher and Captain [advised ATC]. Dispatcher also recommended running the Landing with Abnormal Landing Gear Checklist so he crew could be prepared early. Flight landed and taxied to the gate with an ARFF escort. Dispatcher and crew had difficulty communicating over ARINC. It took almost an hour from when the first call came in to the end of the phone patch. We used multiple frequencies. The longest period we lost contact was for about 10 minutes. Dispatcher lost contact with crew a without realizing it at least once; since he was talking to Maintenance Control about what options were.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1438776
Time
Date	201704
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A319
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Air/Ground Communication
Person 1
Function	Dispatcher
Qualification	Dispatch Dispatcher
Person 2
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Type 421
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

A319 dispatcher and first officer reported multiple equipment failures and had difficulty communicating via phone patch over arinc.