Narrative:

[We] received air engine 1 bleed leak ECAM after thrust reduction to climb power. Had first officer perform ECAM actions followed by communication procedures. [I] advised ATC that we had a bleed issue on the left hand engine and that I wanted to stay on routing; but stay at 9;000 MSL until issue resolved. ATC accommodated. Called maintenance and dispatch on company frequency and advised them of situation. Decision was made to do an air return. At first I thought a large international airport due to being 'overweight' (and the fact that the same airplane the day before had landed at that same airport 'overweight'); but after computing ACARS landing performance and QRH landing performance (with added 15% for the overweight landing) it was determined we could land safely at the departure airport on runway 31 overweight. I declared an emergency with ATC for the overweight landing and landed on runway 31. Descent rate was normal; touchdown smooth and roll out normal with reverse. Turned off runway assessed situation and advised ATC that all was normal and we needed no further assistance. [We] taxied to the gate; wrote in logbook all discrepancies and the fact that an overweight landing had been performed. Even after the ECAM procedure; there still showed a bleed leak. I controlled the aircraft and took over radio 1 with ATC while my first officer took over ECAM actions and communication procedures as well as computing landing data for via ACARS.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An A319 ECAM alerted AIR ENG 1 BLEED LEAK after the thrust reduction to climb power; so the ECAM procedure was completed; an emergency declared and the flight returned to the departure airport for an overweight landing. The flight's Dispatcher also reported that management pilots interfered with his control of this Captain's decision process.

Narrative: [We] received AIR ENG 1 BLEED LEAK ECAM after thrust reduction to climb power. Had First Officer perform ECAM actions followed by COM procedures. [I] advised ATC that we had a BLEED issue on the left hand engine and that I wanted to stay on routing; but stay at 9;000 MSL until issue resolved. ATC accommodated. Called Maintenance and Dispatch on company frequency and advised them of situation. Decision was made to do an air return. At first I thought a large international airport due to being 'overweight' (and the fact that the same airplane the day before had landed at that same airport 'overweight'); but after computing ACARS landing performance and QRH landing performance (with added 15% for the overweight landing) it was determined we could land safely at the departure airport on Runway 31 overweight. I declared an emergency with ATC for the overweight landing and landed on Runway 31. Descent rate was normal; touchdown smooth and roll out normal with reverse. Turned off runway assessed situation and advised ATC that all was normal and we needed no further assistance. [We] taxied to the gate; wrote in logbook all discrepancies and the fact that an overweight landing had been performed. Even after the ECAM procedure; there still showed a bleed leak. I controlled the aircraft and took over radio 1 with ATC while my First Officer took over ECAM actions and COM procedures as well as computing landing data for via ACARS.

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.