A320
Troubleshooting; Time Pressure; Situational Awareness; Human-Machine Interface; Workload
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification; Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; Flight Crew Landed As Precaution; Flight Crew FLC Overrode Automation; Flight Crew Diverted
Aircraft
On preflight; with the batteries on; once the Inertial Reference Unit (IRU) were turned to align; the blue 'align on ref' was not displayed; nor were there alignment coordinates at 2 L and R. As a result I imputed the coordinates from the flight plan and then hit the prompts 'align on ref' and 'confirm' (not normal but not uncommon either). As I started to leave the cockpit; a 'ding' occurred. Instinctively looking back I saw the blue prompt again (which was odd; first time I had seen that). Again I pushed the blue 'align on ref' prompt followed by the amber 'confirm'; (without reconfirming the coordinates as I had just typed them in. I definitely should have rechecked in case an error was made. A potentially serious mistake; one I will never repeat). During push back I noticed a GPS INOP advisory on the Navigational Display (ND); that disappeared after engine start. Prior to taking the runway; all looked normal and displays were normal during takeoff roll. The NAV system came up NAV on the ND shortly after takeoff (like normal). Problem was the heading the NAV display was showing to fly; was 30+ degrees right of our known heading 053. We pulled for heading and continued our climb out away from the ground. Unable to deduce the error; we tried direct to waypoint ZZZZZ; then the secondary flight plan. No help.  Next I tried Attitude Hold (ATT) mode on IRUs (going from NAV to OFF to ATT) trying to fix the issue with the IRS and/or GPS; hopefully allowing for an in flight alignment. At one point I noticed the data on the FMC showing us a start point of ZZZZZ Waypoint? This effort (going to ATT) caused the entire system to shut down.  We discussed a return to ZZZ but were uncomfortable due to severe heading divergence from known (IRS/GPS issue) and the high altitude airport; heavy/overweight landing in a mountainous terrain environment. Although a declaration did not occur; ATC was fully aware of our situation giving us exceptional handling to the north; away from mountainous terrain; traffic and towards VMC weather. We discussed northern divert options. Unfortunately; we were unable to get weather via ACARS for these options. Knowing we could not enter RVSM airspace; we requested FL270 and leveled there while continuing northeast. Shortly thereafter; while trying to trouble shoot the IRU/GPS issue; we lost the cabin pressurization. This required a descent. We could not descend to 10;000ft due to terrain so we descended to 15;000ft. Able to catch the cabin altitude manually; we stayed at 15;000.We continued flying in a northerly direction utilizing the wet compass ONLY; no ND assistance. The ATT mode did provide us PFD airspeed and altitude. ATC was able to give us ZZZZ2 weather (300-1) which we decide was not our best choice (ATC was unable to give us US airport weather).  When we overflew ZZZZ3; and it was VFR; we deemed it suitable and we landed. Following were among the numerous checklists run:NAV/GPS primary lossNAV/IR 1-2; 2-3 and 1-3 faultsNAV/IR align in ATT modeplus manually running the pressurization schedule following the QRH checklist. APU on; flaps 3 uneventful landing completed. Post landing; during rollout; the brakes felt normal about 100kts; slowing at the end of the runway (to turn around and back-taxi); the brakes went to the floor (20mph?). I went full reverse while the First Officer (FO) jumped on binders with me. Feeling we weren't slowing enough; as I was reaching for the A/SKID NWS disct switch; the FO grabbed the parking brake bringing us to a quick stop (speed about 5mph). We were both thinking yellow system brakes just different ways to get there. The brakes returned. As we taxied very slowly to parking stand (brakes felt normal but getting intermittent ECAM brks caution); we queried about 'tow equipment if necessary'. We opted to continue taxi to gate. Uneventful. After passengers debriefed and [maintenance] contacted (via station operations cell phone; minedoes not work here) a thorough debriefing ending with Maintenance Control stating they would enter into [Maintenance computer] our issues. Maintenance Control then transferred us to the duty manager and we debriefed again. I asked to pass onto our dispatcher our scenario/issues and why I could not contact him (ACARS INOP). Once phone calls complete; the FO and I performed a post-flight walk around. Pilot tubes and tires (complete walk around) were all checked thoroughly. No issues noted.
The Reporter stated that the initial coordinates was a mistake; perhaps because of a 'fat finger' problem. The Reporter stated that during climb the aircraft was attempting to turn right which was odd; they knew it wasn't correct. The Reporter stated they went through every checklist in the QRH and was unable to fix it. The Reporter stated that there is no in-flight capabilities to re-align the INS's once the data is imputed. The Reporter also stated he resorted to his military training to try and re-align the INS's by using the ATT (attitude mode) and that is when everything went blank. The Reporter stated that the pressurization system is associated with with the INS system as well as the brakes as was demonstrated during landing roll. The Reporter also stated there needs to be a warning system that alerts the crew when a 'fat finger' error is made or the ability to re-align the navigation system in the air. The Reporter stated that the intent was to fly all the way to the border using basic navigation; but the loss of pressurization negated that. The Reporter also stated they had a lack of yaw control after the nav system failure so they had to make constant inputs to the rudder just to maintain a normal flight.
For this flight I was initially Pilot Flying (PF). We arrived at the airplane and airport workers were onboard. There was some congestion around the flight deck; so the Captain (CA); went in the flight deck and performed the safety checks; and initialized the systems. I got inside and the CA performed the walk around. I observed at this point no abnormalities.We pushed back from the gate and I started both engines per the CA's instructions. We had to do a TOGA thrust takeoff due to 3 knot tailwind conditions. We were cleared for takeoff; thrust was advanced as normal for a TOGA thrust takeoff; and all normal annunciation appeared on the screens. Upon rotation; the aircraft went as normal to NAV mode for the SID. This is where I observed the first abnormality for the flight; the aircraft was commanding us to turn 30 or 40 degrees to the right; which made no sense for the departure had us climbing straight ahead on the ZZZ 053 [radial] to 6 DME initially. I commanded 'pull for heading.' We were tracking runway heading and climbing in VMC conditions. We then asked ATC for direct ZZZZZ Intersection with hopes it would fix the problem. It yielded no result as the aircraft wanted to turn off course again; we commanded heading select and requested vectors from ATC to the north; and a climb to avoid terrain. Around FL190 my PFD and ND went dark and red; and all indications were lost. The Captain vocalized that he selected the Attitude Hold (ATT) mode on the Inertial Reference System (IRS) Inertial Reference Unit (IRU) panel; attempting to correct the issue. I was surprised from the loss of information on the displays; but kept flying until the PFD display came back. We transferred controls and started running the ECAMS; QRH; and communicating with dispatch; maintenance; and ATC. Upon leveling off at FL270; the automatic pressurization system failed. We descended to 15;000 and using manual mode per the ECAM we were able to restore pressurization. We continued north using the compass; and ATC vectors; towards flatter country; meanwhile evaluating suitable alternates. Maintenance suggested we run some procedures; which we tried; but none yielded any positive results. Our ACARS was intermittent as well as our ability to hear maintenance. We saw [a city] out the window and decided that based on performance; and the urgency of the situation it would be the most safe and prudent place to land. We had full cooperation from [foreign] ATC and they were providing excellent assistance the whole time as they were fully aware of our situation from the moment we had the problem. We did a flaps 3 landing; and briefed the procedure per the QRH. We landed in direct law; on the rollout; at about 10 or 15 knots the brakes failed; I tried my side and it didn't stop the plane; Captain put in full reverse and I deployed the parking brake at around 5knots. Aircraft stopped and brakes were restored. I kept my hand on the parking brake as we crept towards the gate. We deplaned the aircraft and waited for a rescue flight. While waiting on maintenance and relief crew the aircrafts GPS/IRU problem did not resolve itself. The aircraft was unable to realign; or have a functional navigation system work.
An Airbus A320 flight crew reported that the entire navigation system completely shut down along with the aircraft pressurization system.