An airbus flight crew experienced ECAM warning brakes hot on takeoff. They consulted with dispatch a...

Narrative:

Captain was pilot flying on operating experience. After V1 and prior to vr; I noticed the 'brakes hot' light in the brake fan switch illuminate; followed shortly by the ECAM for brakes hot. I called the condition to the attention of the captain who continued to fly. The ECAM directed us to leave the gear down if possible to aid in cooling of the brake temperature. We left the gear down and climbed at 220 KTS anticipating the brake would cool and we would be able to retract the gear and continue to ZZZ (our destination). The brake temperature on the #3 brake continued to increase and reached a maximum of 995 degrees C; then the display changed to amber xx's. Unable to determine if it was a brake temperature sensor malfunction or an actual temperature runaway; I called ZZZ1 maintenance. ZZZ1 maintenance asked me the tail number. They said I had to call dispatch and ask to talk to maintenance. They were unable to phone patch me to maintenance; so I had a phone patch to dispatch and maintenance set up. Maintenance was able to confirm the readings from their data and confirmed amber xx's; agreed that the best course of action was to continue to ZZZ with the gear down and land at a lower weight (if we had returned to land at ZZZ1 we were initially overweight and were tankering fuel to ZZZ). I asked dispatch to run numbers for our flight with the gear down; but felt comfortable with the fact that we had over 22;000 pounds of fuel and a 1 hour flight. Discussed options with the captain as well and unsure if there was any tire damage determined it would be best to land at ZZZ at a lower weight. We had no vibration other than the wheels spinning down after takeoff. ATC was advised of our reduced operational capabilities and coordinated with us extremely well. We were filed for FL280 but only climbed as high as FL220. Once level we could only accelerate to 240 KTS. Contacting ZZZ center; we requested runway wxx (longest runway) and declared an emergency with ATC to have fire equipment meet the aircraft in case of any directional control or braking issues due to possible tire damage; etc. The landing was normal; braking was normal and the crash fire rescue team determined with infrared sensors that the brakes were only about 200 degrees (normal). We terminated the emergency; rescue truck followed us to the gate to clarify what our condition was for their report. Throughout the event; the captain on operating experience used excellent CRM and continued to fly while I was on other radios with maintenance; company; etc. We made PA announcements to advise passengers of our condition and why the increased noise level and that we were being met by emergency vehicles as a precaution and of their report; advised the flight attendants to expect a normal landing. Since this was an operating experience and the captain's low experience level on the airbus; we agreed that it was best if I made the landing in case of any directional control issues. We were probably never outside the yellow in our error management; used all available resources. Maintenance was asking what our quick reference handbook said to do -- it only addresses hot brakes (on the ground only); but the ECAM supplemental manual included 'inflight' which was helpful.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An Airbus flight crew experienced ECAM warning BRAKES HOT on takeoff. They consulted with Dispatch and maintenance; declared an emergency; and continued to destination.

Narrative: Captain was Pilot Flying on Operating Experience. After V1 and prior to Vr; I noticed the 'Brakes Hot' light in the Brake Fan Switch illuminate; followed shortly by the ECAM for Brakes Hot. I called the condition to the attention of the Captain who continued to fly. The ECAM directed us to leave the gear down if possible to aid in cooling of the brake temperature. We left the gear down and climbed at 220 KTS anticipating the brake would cool and we would be able to retract the gear and continue to ZZZ (our destination). The brake temperature on the #3 brake continued to increase and reached a maximum of 995 degrees C; then the display changed to Amber XX's. Unable to determine if it was a brake temperature sensor malfunction or an actual temperature runaway; I called ZZZ1 Maintenance. ZZZ1 Maintenance asked me the tail number. They said I had to call Dispatch and ask to talk to Maintenance. They were unable to phone patch me to Maintenance; so I had a phone patch to Dispatch and Maintenance set up. Maintenance was able to confirm the readings from their data and confirmed Amber XX's; agreed that the best course of action was to continue to ZZZ with the gear down and land at a lower weight (if we had returned to land at ZZZ1 we were initially overweight and were tankering fuel to ZZZ). I asked Dispatch to run numbers for our flight with the gear down; but felt comfortable with the fact that we had over 22;000 LBS of fuel and a 1 hour flight. Discussed options with the Captain as well and unsure if there was any tire damage determined it would be best to land at ZZZ at a lower weight. We had no vibration other than the wheels spinning down after takeoff. ATC was advised of our reduced operational capabilities and coordinated with us extremely well. We were filed for FL280 but only climbed as high as FL220. Once level we could only accelerate to 240 KTS. Contacting ZZZ Center; we requested Runway WXX (longest runway) and declared an emergency with ATC to have fire equipment meet the aircraft in case of any directional control or braking issues due to possible tire damage; etc. The landing was normal; braking was normal and the Crash Fire Rescue team determined with infrared sensors that the brakes were only about 200 degrees (normal). We terminated the emergency; rescue truck followed us to the gate to clarify what our condition was for their report. Throughout the event; the Captain on Operating Experience used excellent CRM and continued to fly while I was on other radios with Maintenance; company; etc. We made PA announcements to advise passengers of our condition and why the increased noise level and that we were being met by emergency vehicles as a precaution and of their report; advised the Flight Attendants to expect a normal landing. Since this was an Operating Experience and the Captain's low experience level on the Airbus; we agreed that it was best if I made the landing in case of any directional control issues. We were probably never outside the yellow in our error management; used all available resources. Maintenance was asking what our Quick Reference Handbook said to do -- it only addresses hot brakes (on the ground only); but the ECAM Supplemental Manual included 'inflight' which was helpful.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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	819504
Time
Date	200901
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.TRACON
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Dusk
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A320
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach Initial Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Indicating and Warning - Landing Gear
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 710 Flight Crew Total 15610 Flight Crew Type 2920
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe

An airbus flight crew experienced ECAM warning brakes hot on takeoff. They consulted with dispatch and maintenance; declared an emergency; and continued to destination.