A319 captain reports being dispatched with the first officers nd on MEL. During approach; both capta...

Narrative:

After a 5 hour maintenance delay; aircraft was dispatched with the first officer nd (navigation display) inoperative. We had also observed the captain's pfd (primary flight display) flickering; and failing during the trouble shooting; thus the 5 hour delay. Maintenance finally attributed it to a junction or server box (not sure of the terminology) and eventually dispatched us with just the first officer nd out. It worked for a while; and failed in cruise at some point. I was satisfied at the time all we had lost was the first officer nd. Maintenance seemed to really have a handle on what was going on; in fact I remain impressed at the detective work done. What bothers me on reflection (and I wrote the aircraft up accordingly) was on final; day VFR with the first officer flying; both the captain's displays (nd and pfd) went blank for 10 or 15 seconds. Multiple failures of redundant systems indeed occurred here. I thought that was a sight I should never see...3 of 4 primary flying displays out! (2 nd; 1 pfd!) maybe a look back at the aircraft history and how it was dispatched is worth a look. This should not have happened for any reason.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A319 Captain reports being dispatched with the First Officers ND on MEL. During approach; both Captain displays (ND and PFD) blank for 10 to 15 seconds.

Narrative: After a 5 hour maintenance delay; aircraft was dispatched with the First Officer ND (Navigation Display) inoperative. We had also observed the Captain's PFD (Primary Flight Display) flickering; and failing during the trouble shooting; thus the 5 hour delay. Maintenance finally attributed it to a junction or server box (not sure of the terminology) and eventually dispatched us with just the First Officer ND out. It worked for a while; and failed in cruise at some point. I was satisfied at the time all we had lost was the First Officer ND. Maintenance seemed to really have a handle on what was going on; in fact I remain impressed at the detective work done. What bothers me on reflection (and I wrote the aircraft up accordingly) was on final; day VFR with the First Officer flying; BOTH the Captain's displays (ND and PFD) went blank for 10 or 15 seconds. Multiple failures of redundant systems indeed occurred here. I thought that was a sight I should never see...3 of 4 primary flying displays out! (2 ND; 1 PFD!) Maybe a look back at the aircraft history and how it was dispatched is worth a look. This should not have happened for any reason.

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.

Attributes
ACN	930524
Time
Date	201101
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A319
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	PFD
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe

A319 captain reports being dispatched with the first officers nd on MEL. During approach; both captain displays (nd and pfd) blank for 10 to 15 seconds.