Narrative:

Aircraft incurred messages on the status page during taxi out; inoperative systems: AP2 & CAT 3. Additionally; nd screen changed to 1fd1 with both flight directors turned on. Captain stopped aircraft at takeoff runway hold pad and phone patched maintenance and dispatch. Flight crew followed maintenance instructions pulling and resetting circuit breakers and cycling flight directors. Troubleshooting and system resets were ineffective. Flight crew discussed with maintenance and dispatch that FMGC2 was inoperative. Captain specifically questioned maintenance and dispatch if this was deferrable for class ii overwater operations. Maintenance and dispatch told crew it was okay to defer and sent a new release. Release indicated paperwork was in order; flight crew continued with takeoff. Cockpit workload was busier than normal. The not flying pilot (first officer) was on his very first class ii over water flight. Crew contacted dispatch enroute to further question maintenance via multiple ACARS messages. Message responses to the aircraft failed to answer the question and mislead the flight crew. Further scrutiny of the release and deferral; indicated maintenance had sent the wrong deferral and release was therefore inaccurate. (This was discovered after entering the class ii airspace). Aircraft was now approximately 100 NM inside class ii airspace. Flight crew attempted the tedious process of establishing an HF phone patch. (25 more minutes elapsed to establish useable contact). This time dispatch confirmed release was inaccurate. Flight crew discussed current fuel state; aircraft position and options with dispatch. Based on VFR weather; relatively short distance remaining (approximately 45 minutes) in class ii airspace; crew discussed continuing on; versus landing short on class I route. Captain decided to continue in class ii with FMGC2 inoperative.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A320 Captain reports FMGC2 inoperative prior to departure on Class II overwater flight. Maintenance issues a deferral and dispatch issues a new release. Once airborne and into Class II navigation portion of flight; crew discoverd that single FMGC operation was not permitted in Class II operations. Crew continued to destination.

Narrative: Aircraft incurred messages on the status page during taxi out; INOP SYSTEMS: AP2 & CAT 3. Additionally; ND screen changed to 1FD1 with both flight directors turned on. Captain stopped aircraft at takeoff runway hold pad and phone patched maintenance and dispatch. Flight crew followed maintenance instructions pulling and resetting circuit breakers and cycling flight directors. Troubleshooting and system resets were ineffective. Flight crew discussed with maintenance and Dispatch that FMGC2 was inoperative. Captain specifically questioned maintenance and Dispatch if this was deferrable for class II overwater operations. Maintenance and Dispatch told crew it was okay to defer and sent a new release. Release indicated paperwork was in order; flight crew continued with takeoff. Cockpit workload was busier than normal. The not flying pilot (First Officer) was on his very first Class II over water flight. Crew contacted dispatch enroute to further question maintenance via multiple ACARS messages. Message responses to the aircraft failed to answer the question and mislead the flight crew. Further scrutiny of the release and deferral; indicated maintenance had sent the wrong deferral and release was therefore inaccurate. (This was discovered after entering the Class II airspace). Aircraft was now approximately 100 NM inside Class II airspace. Flight crew attempted the tedious process of establishing an HF phone patch. (25 more minutes elapsed to establish useable contact). This time dispatch confirmed release was inaccurate. Flight crew discussed current fuel state; aircraft position and options with dispatch. Based on VFR weather; relatively short distance remaining (approximately 45 minutes) in Class II airspace; crew discussed continuing on; versus landing short on class I route. Captain decided to continue in Class II with FMGC2 INOP.

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.