Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Flight Engineer; Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 250; Flight Crew Total 8500; Flight Crew Type 3621
Troubleshooting; Distraction; Confusion; Human-Machine Interface
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation - Track / Heading All Types
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification; Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem
Aircraft; Human Factors
I was the flying pilot. At about 400 AGL on initial climb out from Runway 25 the Captain announced that he had lost his attitude information on his Primary Flight Display. At the same time I lost my flight director and the autothrust system. He told me to continue to fly while he worked the check list on the ECAM. After some initial fumbling with the transfer switches; he regained his PFD by switching to the stand by system. We advised departure (and later Center) that we were not RNAV or RVSM capable due to a temporary navigation problem. At that point air traffic control gave us vectors.We noticed that the number 1 Air Data Inertial Reference System (ADIRS) was in the off position. The ADIRS controls barometric altitude; flight path vector; airspeed; Mach; angle of attack; temperature; overspeed warnings; heading; track; speed trends; VSI; groundspeed; and airplane attitude. This explained why we lost all of the Captain's information; but it did not explain why the number 2 flight director; both autopilots; and the autothrust systems did not work. ADIRS 1 should have been in the NAV position; and neither one of us had touched it since the initial cockpit set up at the gate. I tried repeatedly to restore my flight director; the autopilot; and the autothrust by cycling the switches on and off; but none of the systems returned at that time. The Captain then contacted Dispatch and Maintenance via radio number 2 as I continued to fly and handled ATC on radio 1. After some discussion and evaluation; we determined that we had adequate fuel and navigation capability to continue to our destination at FL270. The Captain then advised the flight attendants of our situation. None of us could understand why the flight directors; autopilots; and autothrust were not working. Our company had no answer. The flight manual made no mention of this happening with an ADIRS failure.I have been on the Airbus for thirteen and a half years. Nine of those years I was a simulator instructor in addition to being a First Officer. In the simulator we often times cycled both flight directors off and that would reset them. We tried it and it worked! Both flight directors; both autopilots; and the autothrust system were restored. I had been hand flying for about 40 minutes. Autopilot 2 and the autothrust system were engaged. The Captain and I then went through a sequence of events on initial climb out to try to understand what had happened. He said that after rotation the sun was in his eyes; so he repositioned his sun visor. The sun visor in the Airbus is about 18x10 inch tinted hard plastic and is hinged via a ball socket above the pilots head. I remembered talking to another captain a few months earlier who told me that he accidentally turned off ADIRS 1 by bumping it with his sun visor while repositioning it. The ADIRS system is supposed to have a detent to prevent this from happening; but clearly it did not work. The timing of our ADIRS 1 failure matched the Captain repositioning of his sun visor; and it was the only explanation that we could find for the ADIRS 1 to go from the NAV to the Off position. We continued the flight uneventfully to destination.
An A320 flight crew suffered the loss of multiple systems associated with the Air Data System shortly after takeoff. A comprehensive review of switch positions discovered the Captain's ADIRS was in the off position despite having been on during flight preparation and the initial takeoff. They suspect the Captain's adjustment of his sun screen immediately prior to the event may have struck the switch and turned the ADIRS off. All systems were eventually restored and the flight continued to destination.