An A320's lav and cargo smoke detector fault ecams alerted in rapid succession during descent. The c...

Narrative:

Descending we encountered multiple ecams. Forward cargo smoke detector fault; aft cargo smoke detector fault; lav smoke detector fault and cargo smoke detector fault. One following the other. Captain flew and gave ECAM to first officer. Captain advised center of potential emergency developing involving the potential of smoke in aircraft asking for priority handling. Center acknowledged giving us direct to the destination VOR. Center switched us to approach control. Approach control assigned us runway 36 while ATIS showed landing south. I questioned the runway and he said 'understand smoke in cockpit and you have declared an emergency?' captain advised 'negative; we had a potential problem but have not declared an emergency.' captain further advised we can land to the south but would like to keep speed up. Aircraft approached the VOR at 280 knots. Approach advised 'equipment standing by.' captain advised equipment 'not necessary' and ATC advised 'standard operations for airport.' aircraft landed without incident. Briefed flight managers accordingly and called dispatch and briefed as well. I chose to get ATC in the loop in the case of further escalation of the event. Miscommunication between center and approach control. How would I do things differently? May have completed ECAM before advising ATC. That said; with all the ecams going off at once; I felt the potential for further escalation of the event and made the decision to do so.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An A320's LAV and CARGO Smoke Detector Fault ECAMs alerted in rapid succession during descent. The Captain did not declare an emergency but ATC treated the event as such.

Narrative: Descending we encountered multiple ECAMS. Forward Cargo Smoke Detector Fault; Aft Cargo Smoke Detector Fault; LAV Smoke Detector Fault and Cargo Smoke Detector Fault. One following the other. Captain flew and gave ECAM to First Officer. Captain advised Center of potential emergency developing involving the potential of smoke in aircraft asking for priority handling. Center acknowledged giving us direct to the destination VOR. Center switched us to Approach Control. Approach Control assigned us Runway 36 while ATIS showed landing south. I questioned the runway and he said 'Understand smoke in cockpit and you have declared an emergency?' Captain advised 'Negative; we had a potential problem but have not declared an emergency.' Captain further advised we can land to the south but would like to keep speed up. Aircraft approached the VOR at 280 knots. Approach advised 'Equipment standing by.' Captain advised equipment 'Not necessary' and ATC advised 'Standard operations for airport.' Aircraft landed without incident. Briefed Flight Managers accordingly and called Dispatch and briefed as well. I chose to get ATC in the loop in the case of further escalation of the event. Miscommunication between Center and Approach Control. How would I do things differently? May have completed ECAM before advising ATC. That said; with all the ECAMS going off at once; I felt the potential for further escalation of the event and made the decision to do so.

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	864135
Time
Date	200912
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A320
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Fire/Overheat Warning
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 250 Flight Crew Total 20000 Flight Crew Type 600
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe

An A320's lav and cargo smoke detector fault ecams alerted in rapid succession during descent. The captain did not declare an emergency but ATC treated the event as such.