Narrative:

Shortly after liftoff; an ECAM was received 'engine 1- reverser fault.' continued climb to 8;000 ft while proceeding with abnormal procedures. ECAM itself had no procedures to carry out. QRH indicated that there were no procedures that applied to this warning while in flight. When 'non-normal supplemental manual' was reviewed; it indicated on the first line to 'land as soon as possible.' we found this confusing since no other reference to landing as soon as possible was indicated by ECAM and QRH. We concluded that receiving a reverser fault in flight indicated that something had happened with the reverser system that simply should never occur in flight which was why there was no guidance in the normal reference sources; ie; ECAM and QRH. Defaulting to the safe side of the equation; we elected to follow the instructions in the non-normal supplemental manual and landed without incident. If such a scenario does require a 'land as soon as possible;' then why doesn't ECAM or our QRH direct us to do so? Why is this directive hidden in the next to last resource that we review when dealing with this abnormal. What does it mean when we receive a reverser fault in the air? My assumption was that this fault must be similar to those on previously flown aircraft types; in that a reverser has either not locked in the stowed position; or has hydraulic pressure available to it when it shouldn't.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A319 Captain experiences an ENG 1 reverser fault ECAM shortly after takeoff. [Neither] ECAM nor QRH has actions; but non-normal supplemental manual indicates to land ASAP; which is accomplished.

Narrative: Shortly after liftoff; an ECAM was received 'ENG 1- Reverser Fault.' Continued climb to 8;000 FT while proceeding with abnormal procedures. ECAM itself had no procedures to carry out. QRH indicated that there were no procedures that applied to this warning while in flight. When 'non-normal supplemental manual' was reviewed; it indicated on the first line to 'land ASAP.' We found this confusing since no other reference to landing ASAP was indicated by ECAM and QRH. We concluded that receiving a reverser fault in flight indicated that something had happened with the reverser system that simply should never occur in flight which was why there was no guidance in the normal reference sources; ie; ECAM and QRH. Defaulting to the safe side of the equation; we elected to follow the instructions in the non-normal supplemental manual and landed without incident. If such a scenario does require a 'land ASAP;' then why doesn't ECAM or our QRH direct us to do so? Why is this directive hidden in the next to last resource that we review when dealing with this abnormal. What does it mean when we receive a reverser fault in the air? My assumption was that this fault must be similar to those on previously flown aircraft types; in that a reverser has either not locked in the stowed position; or has hydraulic pressure available to it when it shouldn't.

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.