Narrative:

I temporarily lost all radio contact with enroute ATC for several minutes due to continuous loud radio static while in clouds deviating around thunderstorms. St elmo's fire static electricity completely blocked all radio traffic. ATC radio transmissions were unable to break through the static and apparently; they had been trying to contact us for a frequency change to a new ATC sector. We still had light radio static when flying in clouds without st elmo's fire static electricity but was able to maintain ATC radio contact. An early alert maintenance log book entry was made for the radio static issues. This is becoming too common a problem on the A320. However; I do not seem to have as many radio static issues with the A319 or A321. The issue is a hot topic for me after an event that I had many years before. During that event I was in a holding pattern in clouds near thunderstorms awaiting arrival clearance to my destination airport after the arrivals had been stopped due to thunderstorms over the airport. The thunderstorms in the vicinity of my holding pattern started to move into my position. As they did and we began to go in and out of the clouds and I started to encounter static that rendered the radios useless. In the end I had to leave the holding pattern enough to get clear of clouds to make an emergency call to ATC and address the situation. More recently; I had another loss of communications event during climb out through 18;000 from ZZZ1 in light rain. I have found that in most cases the radio static problems are much more pronounced at higher altitudes and mostly when in clouds near thunderstorm activity. Radar on or off has never had an effect one way or the other on the static. Only occasionally have I had static issues while in visible moisture such as rain and then it has been generally at attitudes above 10;000. I have always had st elmo's fire visible on the forward cockpit windows generate static on the A320 radio's but this was the first time it created such loud static that is overpowered all radio traffic. It may be worth noting that this is the second as soon as possible I have found necessary to file this summer regarding extreme radio static that blocks ATC communication.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A321 Captain reports a temporary loss of all radio contact; in clouds deviating around thunderstorm; with ATC for several minutes due to continuous loud radio static while .

Narrative: I temporarily lost all radio contact with enroute ATC for several minutes due to continuous loud radio static while in clouds deviating around thunderstorms. St Elmo's fire static electricity completely blocked all radio traffic. ATC radio transmissions were unable to break through the static and apparently; they had been trying to contact us for a frequency change to a new ATC sector. We still had light radio static when flying in clouds without St Elmo's fire static electricity but was able to maintain ATC radio contact. An early alert maintenance log book entry was made for the radio static issues. This is becoming too common a problem on the A320. However; I do not seem to have as many radio static issues with the A319 or A321. The issue is a hot topic for me after an event that I had many years before. During that event I was in a holding pattern in clouds near thunderstorms awaiting arrival clearance to my destination airport after the arrivals had been stopped due to thunderstorms over the airport. The thunderstorms in the vicinity of my holding pattern started to move into my position. As they did and we began to go in and out of the clouds and I started to encounter static that rendered the radios useless. In the end I had to leave the holding pattern enough to get clear of clouds to make an emergency call to ATC and address the situation. More recently; I had another loss of communications event during climb out through 18;000 from ZZZ1 in light rain. I have found that in most cases the radio static problems are much more pronounced at higher altitudes and mostly when in clouds near thunderstorm activity. Radar on or off has never had an effect one way or the other on the static. Only occasionally have I had static issues while in visible moisture such as rain and then it has been generally at attitudes above 10;000. I have always had St Elmo's fire visible on the forward cockpit windows generate static on the A320 radio's but this was the first time it created such loud static that is overpowered all radio traffic. It may be worth noting that this is the second ASAP I have found necessary to file this summer regarding extreme radio static that blocks ATC communication.

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.