A319, en-route, Nantes France, 2006
A319, en-route, Nantes France, 2006
Summary
On 15 September 2006, an Easyjet Airbus A319, despatched under MEL provision with one engine generator inoperative and the corresponding electrical power supplied by the Auxiliary Power Unit generator, suffered a further en route electrical failure which included power loss to all COM radio equipment which could not then be re-instated. The flight was completed as flight planned using the remaining flight instruments with the one remaining transponder selected to the standard emergency code. The incident began near Nantes, France.
Flight Details
Aircraft
Operator
Type of Flight
Public Transport (Passenger)
Flight Origin
Intended Destination
Take-off Commenced
Yes
Flight Airborne
Yes
Flight Completed
Yes
Phase of Flight
Cruise
Location
General
Tag(s)
Inadequate Airworthiness Procedures
AGC
Tag(s)
Loss of Comms
AW
System(s)
Communications,
Electrical Power
Contributor(s)
OEM Design fault,
Contributing ADD,
Component Fault in service
Outcome
Damage or injury
No
Non-aircraft damage
No
Non-occupant Casualties
No
Off Airport Landing
No
Ditching
No
Causal Factor Group(s)
Group(s)
Aircraft Technical
Safety Recommendation(s)
Group(s)
Aircraft Airworthiness
Air Traffic Management
Investigation Type
Type
Independent
Description
On 15 September 2006, an Easyjet Airbus AIRBUS A-319, despatched under Minimum Equipment List (MEL) provision with one engine generator inoperative and the corresponding electrical power supplied by the APU generator, suffered a further en route electrical failure which included power loss to all COM radio equipment which could not then be re-instated. The flight was completed as flight planned using the remaining flight instruments with the one remaining transponder selected to the standard emergency code. The incident began near Nantes, France.
Synopsis
The following is the Synopsis from the UK AAIB report:
"The aircraft was dispatched under the provisions of the operator’s Minimum Equipment List with the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) generator on line, substituting for the No 1 main generator which had been selected off after a fault on the previous flight had caused it to trip off line. During the cruise, the APU generator disconnected from the system, probably because of a recurrence of the original fault. This caused the loss of a substantial number of aircraft services, including some flight instruments and all means of radio telephony (RTF) communication. Manual reconfiguration of the electrical system should have recovered many of the services but the flight crew was not able to achieve this. Since they were without RTF communications, the crew considered that the best option was to select the emergency transponder code and continue the flight in accordance with the flight plan."
Related Articles
Further Reading
- For further information, see the Final AAIB Report 4/2009 and the AAIB Special Bulletin: S9/2006
