A320
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Troubleshooting
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; General Declared Emergency
Aircraft; Human Factors; Manuals
At the start of our descent we had a Number 2 Reverser fault caution light. We ran QRH; Resets; Normal Checklists and consulted the AOM. The only guidance we found was in the AOM. It dealt with the number 1 or 2 reverser fault. The action was to reduce thrust in the right engine. We called Dispatch and Maintenance and consulted as to the correct course of action. We involved a phone patch with our Fleet Manager. With their concurrence we confirmed and reduced thrust on the Number 2 Engine to idle. As a precaution and to ensure priority handling we declared an emergency with ATC. The AOM guidance included language to land at the nearest suitable airport. By the time we had the situation under control we were only about fifty mile from the destination airport and still about 25;000 FT MSL. We felt the best course of action was to continue our descent and prepare for a straight in landing. It was already programmed and the runway is over 11;000 in length and 200 FT wide. We felt confident that this was the correct course of action. We used the single engine guidance from the AOM and did a flap three landing. The emergency was really a non event with a positive outcome.
A320 First Officer experiences a reverser fault during descent. After consulting the QRH; AOM and Maintenance Control the crew elects to reduce the engine to idle and continue to destination after declaring an emergency.