An A319 captain noted an avionics vent fault ECAM prior to departure. Maintenance deffered the the f...

Narrative:

During the boarding processes we received an avionics vent fault ECAM message. It was twenty minutes before departure and we put the discrepancy in the log and called maintenance. Maintenance was quick to respond and mentioned that this particular aircraft had this fault ten times in the last thirty days. The mechanics decided to MEL the system; and signed the log after completing the follow up procedure. We took off about one and a half hours late. During climb through 6;000 ft; we received an ECAM status message not to exceed 10;000 ft in the climb. We notified maintenance and also sent an ACARS message to our dispatcher and returned to the field for an overweight landing at 143;600 pounds. The sink rate at touchdown was 200 ft per minute. Maintenance said they would have the MEL corrected and we would soon be on our way. I spoke via phone with the assistant chief pilot and with his approval; I decided to get another aircraft. We departed and the trip was uneventful. Maintenance improperly applied the MEL.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An A319 Captain noted an avionics vent fault ECAM prior to departure. Maintenance deffered the the fault via the MEL and released the aircraft. During climb through 6;000 FT; an ECAM status message not to exceed 10;000 FT was received. Flight returned for an overweight landing.

Narrative: During the boarding processes we received an avionics vent fault ECAM message. It was twenty minutes before departure and we put the discrepancy in the Log and called Maintenance. Maintenance was quick to respond and mentioned that this particular aircraft had this fault ten times in the last thirty days. The mechanics decided to MEL the system; and signed the log after completing the follow up procedure. We took off about one and a half hours late. During climb through 6;000 FT; we received an ECAM status message not to exceed 10;000 FT in the climb. We notified Maintenance and also sent an ACARS message to our Dispatcher and returned to the field for an overweight landing at 143;600 LBS. The sink rate at touchdown was 200 FT per minute. Maintenance said they would have the MEL corrected and we would soon be on our way. I spoke via phone with the assistant Chief Pilot and with his approval; I decided to get another aircraft. We departed and the trip was uneventful. Maintenance improperly applied the MEL.

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	976263
Time
Date	201110
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.TRACON
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A319
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Procedural Maintenance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural MEL

An A319 captain noted an avionics vent fault ECAM prior to departure. Maintenance deffered the the fault via the MEL and released the aircraft. During climb through 6;000 ft; an ECAM status message not to exceed 10;000 ft was received. Flight returned for an overweight landing.