An A320 flight crew refused to reset a popped circuit breaker in flight as directed by maintenance c...

Attributes
ACN	985747
Time
Date	201112
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZID.ARTCC
State Reference	IN
Environment
Flight Conditions	Marginal
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A320
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	FMS/FMC
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 100 Flight Crew Total 19000 Flight Crew Type 3000
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural Maintenance

Narrative:

At cruise the captain's mcdu failed and the first officer's mcdu was intermittent. The decision was made after a conversation with maintenance control and dispatch to return to departure airport. During the conversation with maintenance and dispatch both parties kept telling the crew that we could reset circuit breakers (C/bs) in flight. We felt this was a clear change to our new joint operations policy. After telling maintenance we could not reset a C/B in flight they proceeded to tell us we could and that we just did not want to. After a long discussion we found that there was bold guidance in the flight manual that states specifically pilots are not allowed to reset a C/B in flight. Dispatch then suggested the captain use emergency authority to reset the C/B at which time an emergency did not exist. The captain and I declined the suggestion. The flight returned to iad uneventfully.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An A320 flight crew refused to reset a popped circuit breaker in flight as directed by Maintenance Control; citing a specific bold print prohibition against doing so in the newly developed joint FOM for the two recently merged air carriers.

Narrative: At cruise the Captain's MCDU failed and the First Officer's MCDU was intermittent. The decision was made after a conversation with Maintenance Control and Dispatch to return to departure airport. During the conversation with Maintenance and Dispatch both parties kept telling the crew that we could reset Circuit Breakers (C/Bs) in flight. We felt this was a clear change to our new joint operations policy. After telling Maintenance we could not reset a C/B in flight they proceeded to tell us we could and that we just did not want to. After a long discussion we found that there was bold guidance in the flight manual that states specifically pilots are NOT allowed to reset a C/B in flight. Dispatch then suggested the Captain use emergency authority to reset the C/B at which time an emergency did not exist. The Captain and I declined the suggestion. The flight returned to IAD uneventfully.

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.

An A320 flight crew refused to reset a popped circuit breaker in flight as directed by maintenance control; citing a specific bold print prohibition against doing so in the newly developed joint fom for the two recently merged air carriers.