Narrative:

Cruising at FL390 we suffered an air eng 1 bleed fault at XE04Z. Previously we had an air eng 2 bleed fault at XC41Z. In response to the initial failure we complied with the ECAM/QRH procedure allowing us to continue to our destination. When we lost the second bleed source we also started to lose pressurization in the cabin with the accompanying loss of both air conditioning packs. We immediately donned our oxygen masks and complied with the ECAM procedure and received an initial clearance to FL310 from ATC. After declaring an emergency; ATC gave us further clearance to 10000 ft. During the emergency descent the cabin altitude climbed to 11000 ft triggering the red cabin altitude warning and chime. We reached our assigned altitude of 10000 ft and the cabin stabilized at approximately 9800 ft. We descended to 5000 ft; then 3000 ft while we were cleared for the ILS approach. We completed an uneventful landing; cancelled the emergency and taxied to the gate. During our descent below 10000 ft we regained operation of the left bleed; which helped to repressurize the aircraft. The cabin masks did not deploy. We took off at XA32Z and had the first bleed fault at XC41Z; 2 hours and 9 minutes into the flight. We flew with a single bleed for 1 hour and 23 minutes until we lost the second bleed necessitating the emergency descent at XE04Z. We elected to continue to our destination because the cabin had stabilized below 10000 ft; the masks did not deploy automatically or manually; and we had adequate fuel and reserve margins. Upon review of the logbook; the aircraft had a history of bleed 2 faults that had obviously not been corrected; which; upon the loss of the last remaining bleed; gave us the last 36 minutes of unpressurized/partially pressurized flight. Single bleed operation is serious business. Flying over mountainous terrain with single bleed is inviting an emergency where the suitability of terrain; weather and airports is not anywhere near as benign as our experience. On this night there was significant thunderstorm activity that required dialogue with dispatch and ATC for successful deviation. Lucky for us that the second failure didn't occur over the mountains. I would do nothing differently if circumstances such as we experienced happen again. However; I would seriously ponder acceptance of an aircraft with a bleed problem prior to dispatch on such a routing. The MEL might allow dispatch where this captain might not. Task saturation and distractions were very apparent during the descent due to the obvious difficulties of communication with ATC; passengers; flight attendants; and the other pilot while wearing an oxygen mask. The wind noise as the windows became unsealed made it almost impossible to communicate with anyone.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A319 Captain reports bleed fault at FL390 and elected to continue with single bleed operation. About 80 minutes later the second bleed faults necessitated an emergency descent. Crew continued to destination at 10000 FT with first bleed restored.

Narrative: Cruising at FL390 we suffered an Air Eng 1 Bleed Fault at XE04Z. Previously we had an Air Eng 2 Bleed Fault at XC41Z. In response to the initial failure we complied with the ECAM/QRH procedure allowing us to continue to our destination. When we lost the second bleed source we also started to lose pressurization in the cabin with the accompanying loss of both air conditioning packs. We immediately donned our oxygen masks and complied with the ECAM procedure and received an initial clearance to FL310 from ATC. After declaring an emergency; ATC gave us further clearance to 10000 FT. During the emergency descent the cabin altitude climbed to 11000 FT triggering the red cabin altitude warning and chime. We reached our assigned altitude of 10000 FT and the cabin stabilized at approximately 9800 FT. We descended to 5000 FT; then 3000 FT while we were cleared for the ILS approach. We completed an uneventful landing; cancelled the emergency and taxied to the gate. During our descent below 10000 FT we regained operation of the left bleed; which helped to repressurize the aircraft. The cabin masks did not deploy. We took off at XA32Z and had the first bleed fault at XC41Z; 2 hours and 9 minutes into the flight. We flew with a single bleed for 1 hour and 23 minutes until we lost the second bleed necessitating the emergency descent at XE04Z. We elected to continue to our destination because the cabin had stabilized below 10000 FT; the masks did not deploy automatically or manually; and we had adequate fuel and reserve margins. Upon review of the logbook; the aircraft had a history of Bleed 2 faults that had obviously not been corrected; which; upon the loss of the last remaining bleed; gave us the last 36 minutes of unpressurized/partially pressurized flight. Single bleed operation is serious business. Flying over mountainous terrain with single bleed is inviting an emergency where the suitability of terrain; weather and airports is not anywhere near as benign as our experience. On this night there was significant thunderstorm activity that required dialogue with Dispatch and ATC for successful deviation. Lucky for us that the second failure didn't occur over the mountains. I would do nothing differently if circumstances such as we experienced happen again. However; I would seriously ponder acceptance of an aircraft with a bleed problem prior to dispatch on such a routing. The MEL might allow dispatch where this Captain might not. Task saturation and distractions were very apparent during the descent due to the obvious difficulties of communication with ATC; passengers; flight attendants; and the other pilot while wearing an oxygen mask. The wind noise as the windows became unsealed made it almost impossible to communicate with anyone.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.