The UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch was unable to determine why Airbus A319 G-EUOB suffered a major electrical failure while flying at night from London to Budapest on Oct. 22, 2005. According to the AAIB final report, the airplane was en route from London Heathrow to Budapest and was approaching FL200 in clear conditions. Both crewmembers heard a “clunk” and the flight deck became dark as the crew lost all flight displays, autopilot, intercom and radio and most of the flight-deck lighting (including standby instrument integral lighting). Autothrust was also disabled, triggering the associated warning horn.
The commander took control, using the external night horizon and the poorly illuminated standby horizon and altimeter for reference. Meanwhile, the copilot worked through the checklist display that had appeared on the lower ECAM display, the only available electronic display. Most of the affected systems were restored after about 90 seconds as the ac ess feed push-button switch was selected to alternate.
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