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An A321 experienced an IR3 fault during climb out with associated autopilot; autothrottle; and FM/GPS position disagree ECAM messages. The crew elected to return to departure airport with IR2 failing during final approach.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 866125 |
| Time | |
| Date | 200912 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0601-1200 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | A321 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Climb Initial Climb |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | INS / IRS / IRU |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | First Officer Pilot Not Flying |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical |
Narrative:
At about 18000 feet; numerous failures were annunciated on ECAM: a/P - off; a/thr - off; FM/GPS pos disagree; IR3 fault. Additionally; both pilot's fmas were blank. The captain (pilot flying) hand flew the airplane (the weather was VMC) while the first officer and a jumpseat C/O (airbus qualified) sorted out the failures. Numerous spurious cautions flashed on and off the ECAM for the first several minutes. Ultimately it was determined that IR3 had failed and that IR2 was also questionable (IR2 did finally fault on final approach when the gear was lowered). After completing a review of the quick reference handbook and ECAM checklists it was determined that an over-weight landing would be made. The flight attendants; passengers and operations were notified of our plans and an uneventful landing was completed. Maintenance indicated that at least one of the ir units had failed. The ground position error check on preflight of the ir units had been normal.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: An A321 experienced an IR3 fault during climb out with associated autopilot; autothrottle; and FM/GPS position disagree ECAM messages. The crew elected to return to departure airport with IR2 failing during final approach.
Narrative: At about 18000 feet; numerous failures were annunciated on ECAM: A/P - off; A/THR - off; FM/GPS Pos Disagree; IR3 Fault. Additionally; both pilot's FMAs were blank. The Captain (Pilot Flying) hand flew the airplane (the weather was VMC) while the First Officer and a jumpseat C/O (Airbus qualified) sorted out the failures. Numerous spurious cautions flashed on and off the ECAM for the first several minutes. Ultimately it was determined that IR3 had failed and that IR2 was also questionable (IR2 did finally Fault on final approach when the gear was lowered). After completing a review of the Quick Reference Handbook and ECAM checklists it was determined that an over-weight landing would be made. The flight attendants; passengers and Operations were notified of our plans and an uneventful landing was completed. Maintenance indicated that at least one of the IR units had failed. The ground position error check on preflight of the IR units had been normal.
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.