A319
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 350; Flight Crew Total 14500; Flight Crew Type 1700
Situational Awareness
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Aircraft; Weather
This was our third flight of the day with the same aircraft. We used the weather radar on the first two flights and it operated satisfactorily. The route on this flight was to take us in the vicinity of thunderstorm activity in the Atlanta and far southwest area of Georgia. We turned on the weather radar and it indicated a tilt setting but with no return displayed. It then indicated Weather Test and remained in Weather Test. Cycling the power had no effect. I ACARS'd Maintenance Control to help with troubleshooting the system. The sun was setting and moon illumination was low. I reviewed Flight Operation Manual guidance with my First Officer regarding weather radar failure enroute. We notified ATC of our condition and asked for continuous reports from their radar depiction as well as other aircraft on our current routing. (ATC radars are not calibrated for weather returns; it is a by product of the primary use of their radar; and in my experience ATC can provide only very general area weather information). I told my First Officer we would remain VMC as well as attempt to maintain visual contact with the ground on our planned route. I was concerned about overflying a building cell. During this time I also notified Dispatch via ACARS of our problem and asked for and received a weather report along our route of flight. To get a better picture in my mind of the weather ahead I established a phone patch with Dispatch via radio. Our discussion of the area weather led me to believe we could continue the flight to destination remaining VMC and clear of any thunderstorms. Piecing together the information from Dispatch; ATC and other aircraft however still left me uncomfortable. At that point a jumpseater asked if we had WiFi on board. We did; it was functioning so I logged on and paid for WiFi access. I opened WSI and inputted our current route and continually updated our position using the closest waypoints as depicted on our NAV display. Having a real time weather depiction with our route overlay filled in the gaps in my mind as to where the weather was in our current area as well as the rest of our route. We offset west of ATL and slightly northeast of the other area of weather in southwest Georgia. We remained VMC and maintained visual contact with the ground for the entire flight. If the thunderstorms had been more severe or had formed a line on our route we most likely would have diverted. I understand enroute use of real time WSI information would not be used a penetration tool; however in our case it was a welcome addition and completed our situational awareness with this malfunction.
A319 Captain experiences Radar failure enroute and elects to log on to the aircrafts WiFi system to view NexRad images from WSI.