Narrative:

After takeoff climbing through 3;500 MSL; we were vectored southwest into the sun. I attempted to adjust sun visor to block the sun. The visor appeared stuck; so I had to pull harder to get it to out of its bracket. It finally came loose abruptly; but in doing so made contact with the #1 adiru (air data inertial reference unit) switch on the overhead panel; momentarily taking it out of the navigation detent position. I realized this had happened because we got a navigation ir#1 fault on ECAM and subsequent loss of attitude information on the captain's pfd (primary flight display) along with associated master cautions. Realizing that this was probably caused by the sun visor hitting the adiru switch; I told the first officer to fly the aircraft and handle ATC communications while I completed the steps on ECAM. The steps included positioning the #1 adiru switch to att and selecting the captain's att-heading switch to CAPT3 which restored attitude information to the captain's pfd from the #3 adiru. Basically; all flight display information was restored with the exception of GPWS terrain information and loss of dual CAT 3 capability as displayed on the ECAM status page. After climbing above fl 180 I established voice communications with dispatch and got a patch to maintenance in order to see if there was any way to restore full capability on the #1 adiru. They said that the adiru switch would have to remain in att for the remainder of the flight. I considered rvsm ramifications by consulting the limitations and specifications chapter of the flight manual. There were no operational restrictions to rvsm since the #1 adiru was still operating; albeit in att mode. Destination weather was VFR so there was no requirement for CAT ii/III or an autoland. I conferred with the first officer and decided to continue to our destination as flight planned and released. Maintenance and dispatch didn't have concerns about us continuing. I entered an maintenance code of 0 and brief text description of the inadvertent movement of the #1 adiru switch by moving the sun visor. Maintenance mentioned that a normal alignment of the adirus prior to the next departure would clear this maintenance item. I reviewed the steps published in the flight manual which included the requirement to update heading information on the #1 adiru while it was selected in att. Upon arrival; I briefed the outbound crew about the adiru alignment and told them to call maintenance for a new maintenance release. Outbound flight departed on time after receiving a new mrd.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An A319 Captain pulled his windshield visor out of its bracket while flying into the setting sun and it contacted the #1 ADIRU switch moving it out of NAV. After completing the ECAM procedure; the flight continued with #1 ADIRU in ATT and the Captain's instruments on #3 ADIRU.

Narrative: After takeoff climbing through 3;500 MSL; we were vectored southwest into the sun. I attempted to adjust sun visor to block the sun. The visor appeared stuck; so I had to pull harder to get it to out of its bracket. It finally came loose abruptly; but in doing so made contact with the #1 ADIRU (Air Data Inertial Reference Unit) switch on the overhead panel; momentarily taking it out of the NAV detent position. I realized this had happened because we got a NAV IR#1 FAULT on ECAM and subsequent loss of attitude information on the Captain's PFD (Primary Flight Display) along with associated master cautions. Realizing that this was probably caused by the sun visor hitting the ADIRU switch; I told the First Officer to fly the aircraft and handle ATC communications while I completed the steps on ECAM. The steps included positioning the #1 ADIRU switch to ATT and selecting the Captain's ATT-HDG switch to CAPT3 which restored attitude information to the Captain's PFD from the #3 ADIRU. Basically; all flight display information was restored with the exception of GPWS terrain information and loss of dual CAT 3 capability as displayed on the ECAM status page. After climbing above FL 180 I established voice communications with dispatch and got a patch to maintenance in order to see if there was any way to restore full capability on the #1 ADIRU. They said that the ADIRU switch would have to remain in ATT for the remainder of the flight. I considered RVSM ramifications by consulting the Limitations and Specifications chapter of the Flight Manual. There were no operational restrictions to RVSM since the #1 ADIRU was still operating; albeit in ATT mode. Destination weather was VFR so there was no requirement for CAT II/III or an autoland. I conferred with the First Officer and decided to continue to our destination as flight planned and released. Maintenance and dispatch didn't have concerns about us continuing. I entered an Maintenance code of 0 and brief text description of the inadvertent movement of the #1 ADIRU switch by moving the sun visor. Maintenance mentioned that a normal alignment of the ADIRUs prior to the next departure would clear this maintenance item. I reviewed the steps published in the Flight Manual which included the requirement to update heading information on the #1 ADIRU while it was selected in ATT. Upon arrival; I briefed the outbound crew about the ADIRU alignment and told them to call maintenance for a new maintenance release. Outbound flight departed on time after receiving a new MRD.

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.