A319, south of London UK, 2005

A319, south of London UK, 2005

Summary

On 22 October 2005, a British Airways Airbus A319 climbing en route to destination over south east England at night in VMC experienced a major but temporary electrical failure. Most services were re-instated within a short time and the flight was continued. However, during the subsequent Investigation, which took over two years, a series of significant deficiencies were identified in the design of the A320 series electrical system and the manufacturer-recommended responses to failures in it and in response, Airbus developed solutions to most of them.

Description

On 22 October 2005, an Airbus A319-100 being operated by British Airways on a passenger flight from London Heathrow to Budapest experienced the sudden onset of a major electrical failure when passing FL200 in night Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC). The crew recovered the situation sufficiently to decide, after consulting Company Maintenance Control, that it was appropriate to continue to their intended destination. ATC were not informed of the situation encountered. The action taken by the crew after the flight in respect of the failure was ineffective and the Operator remained unaware of the safety and airworthiness significance of it. As a result, the proper reporting action was not taken, thus delaying the start of an Investigation.

Investigation

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Branch (UK) (AAIB) only became aware of the event six days after it had occurred through the UK CAA MOR Scheme. Once the significance of the occurrence had been recognised, an Inspector’s Investigation had been commenced.

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