Narrative:

I departed ZZZ on a left turn to intercept ZZZ per the SID with FMS navigation selected at 400 ft. At approximately 4000 ft the FMS navigation dropped the departure and the magenta needle turned ninety degrees to the right. We did not receive any EICAS messages or the flight director transferring from navigation to roll mode. At that time I asked my first officer to request a heading from ATC and to sync my heading. We received the new heading and I requested first officer to select heading mode. As he entered the heading and selected heading mode I realized that both flight director not being displayed on the pfd's. We were given a north heading and a climb to 12;000 ft. I requested first officer to notify ATC of our failure and we needed to level at 10;000 ft and may need to return to ZZZ. Level at 10;000 ft I asked first officer to find what he could in the QRH since we did to receive any EICAS messages. We would not and sent an ACARS message to dispatch notifying them of the problem and that we may need to return to ZZZ. I asked first officer to cycle the FD button on the flight guidance panel with no luck. With the navigation and FD not working properly at the time; with weather questionable in ZZZ1; with ZZZ1 being a very congested airport; after asking first officer what he thought; I made a safe decision to return to ZZZ. At that time dispatch did not return my message and I notified ATC of our discussion the return to ZZZ. First officer checked current weather; we briefed the crew and passengers; I briefed the approach; and then called for the decent checklist. I requested that we get vectors to burn off fuel to land under max landing weight. We were instructed to descend to 6000 ft. I manually pitched the plane and started a decent when a message from dispatch came in. It instructed me to continue to ZZZ. I replied that I had all ready committed to ZZZ and that I was below 10;000 ft. Enroute to ZZZ we were given a decent to 2600 ft; first officer entered it and asked if I wanted fpa mode. I said ok. As he selected fpa and flight director came back and gave us guidance. I flew the airplane and used the first officer only for reference at that time aware that it had failed earlier. As we were cleared for the visual I asked to arm the appr mode and it worked. The flight director worked fine until 800 ft; at that point we lost the guidance and received a momentary FD mode fail--off message and it cleared itself. We landed without incident and I call maintained once I parked at the gate. I followed all FAA and company policies and procedures to the best of my knowledge and if it applies far 121.557 should cover my decision to return to ZZZ. I few more details need to be addresses. 1) dispatch sent a message after I notified then that I was committed to landing a ZZZ and below 10;000 ft the read: commitments can be broken; this was very unprofessional. 2) the flight director failed which out any EICAS messages. 3) the FMS navigation dropped the departure at the same time we lost the flight directors. 4) I called maintenance when I arrived at the gate with a plane full of passengers; gate agent; and flight attendants wanting to know what I'm going to do. Maintenance put me on hold and then placed on speaker phone with me. Asked what happened and I stated that we lost both flight directors and returned to ZZZ. He asked why I did not continued to ZZZ2 on RNAV and seemed to be very upset. I tried to explain the best I could with a very bad phone connection due to the speaker phone and the pressure of passengers wanting an answer. I tried to explain that I have a plane full of passengers and that I need guidance from maintenance on what to do next and that I would explain later. Maintenance calls my first officer and I asked his opinion if we could have continued and stated that it fly's like a 172 when you lose the flight director 5) I wrote up the deficiency in the logbook as loss of both flight directors at 4000 ft and FD ld fail at 800 ft on logbook page. th

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ERJ-175 flight crew on departure had both flight directors fail and at 4000 FT the FMS dropped the departure. With no reference in their QRH and questionable weather at their destination; they decided to return to their departure station.

Narrative: I departed ZZZ on a left turn to intercept ZZZ per the SID with FMS NAV selected at 400 FT. At approximately 4000 FT the FMS NAV dropped the departure and the magenta needle turned ninety degrees to the right. We did not receive any EICAS messages or the Flight Director transferring from NAV to ROLL mode. At that time I asked my First Officer to request a heading from ATC and to SYNC my heading. We received the new heading and I requested First Officer to select heading mode. AS he entered the heading and selected heading mode I realized that both Flight Director not being displayed on the PFD's. We were given a north heading and a climb to 12;000 FT. I requested First Officer to notify ATC of our failure and we needed to level at 10;000 FT and may need to return to ZZZ. Level at 10;000 FT I asked First Officer to find what he could in the QRH since we did to receive any EICAS messages. We would not and sent an ACARS message to dispatch notifying them of the problem and that we may need to return to ZZZ. I asked First Officer to cycle the FD button on the Flight Guidance panel with no luck. With the NAV and FD not working properly at the time; with weather questionable in ZZZ1; with ZZZ1 being a very congested airport; after asking First Officer what he thought; I made a safe decision to return to ZZZ. At that time dispatch did not return my message and I notified ATC of our discussion the return to ZZZ. First Officer checked current weather; we briefed the crew and passengers; I briefed the approach; and then called for the decent checklist. I requested that we get vectors to burn off fuel to land under max landing weight. We were instructed to descend to 6000 FT. I manually pitched the plane and started a decent when a message from dispatch came in. It instructed me to continue to ZZZ. I replied that I had all ready committed to ZZZ and that I was below 10;000 FT. Enroute to ZZZ we were given a decent to 2600 FT; First Officer entered it and asked if I wanted FPA mode. I said OK. As he selected FPA and flight director came back and gave us guidance. I flew the airplane and used the First Officer only for reference at that time aware that it had failed earlier. As we were cleared for the visual I asked to arm the APPR mode and it worked. The Flight Director worked fine until 800 FT; at that point we lost the guidance and received a momentary FD Mode FAIL--OFF message and it cleared itself. We landed without incident and I call maintained once I parked at the gate. I followed all FAA and company policies and procedures to the best of my knowledge and if it applies FAR 121.557 should cover my decision to return to ZZZ. I few more details need to be addresses. 1) Dispatch sent a message after I notified then that I was committed to landing a ZZZ and below 10;000 FT the read: Commitments can be broken; this was very unprofessional. 2) The Flight Director failed which out any EICAS messages. 3) The FMS NAV dropped the departure at the same time we lost the flight directors. 4) I called maintenance when I arrived at the gate with a plane full of passengers; gate agent; and flight attendants wanting to know what I'm going to do. Maintenance put me on hold and then placed on speaker phone with me. Asked what happened and I stated that we lost both flight directors and returned to ZZZ. He asked why I did not continued to ZZZ2 on RNAV and seemed to be very upset. I tried to explain the best I could with a very bad phone connection due to the speaker phone and the pressure of passengers wanting an answer. I tried to explain that I have a plane full of passengers and that I need guidance from maintenance on what to do next and that I would explain later. Maintenance calls my First Officer and I asked his opinion if we could have continued and stated that it fly's like a 172 when you lose the flight director 5) I wrote up the deficiency in the logbook as loss of both flight directors at 4000 FT and FD LD FAIL at 800 FT on logbook page. Th

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.