Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness; Troubleshooting; Workload
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe
General Maintenance Action
Aircraft
Descending thru FL180; checking Status Page on Descent flow we observed:'ENG2 at Idle on GRD''ENG2 Max Pwr Idle'INOP SYS:'REVERSER 2''ENG2 THR'[There was; however; no ECAM message; No Immediate Action; No ECAM Exception; No QRH Procedure or guidance in the QRHI asked a jumpseating Captain to see if there was something in the ECAM Supplemental Guide for supportive information. [Although I understand the] ECAM Supplemental is for actual ECAM and Crew Awareness [and that] we never received an ECAM [however it appeared] we had a possible situation with the Number 2 Reverser. The guide did provide some insight into what COULD be wrong. We discerned that a probable reason is there could be a disagreement relating to the FADEC and Thrust Lever Position. Nevertheless; we figured this had to with Reverser Door position with the STS/Inop SYS messages.The ECAM Supplemental Guide under 'ENG REVERSER PRESSURIZED' explains...'Reverse Thrust System Pressurized Without Reverse Deployment order'ACTION: 'THR LVR 2..... Idle' 'If flight conditions permit; reduce thrust lever of affected engine to IDLE as a precautionary measure'.What we didn't know was if the reverser was pressurized or not. What we DID know [is] if the reverser sleeve/door opened it would not be good.Landing distance [decrement was] quickly checked and verified with 25% increase.  We were in a position to land [while] on base leg when I made the decision to bring the Thrust Lever to IDLE as a PRECAUTIONARY measure. We briefed and used BOTH reversers on touchdown. Landing and rollout were normal with BOTH thrust reversers operating. STS messages and INOP SYS cleared.After shutdown; a Maintenance Message: ENG2 FADEC [was displayed][An MEL:] 'Reverser Inop' was added for next flight.
Odd Status page messages--observed during completion of the Descent Checklist--regarding the right engine reverser but which had not triggered an ECAM message/resolution presented a quandary to the flight crew of an A320.