Airbus, VH-VND, aircraft diversion, near Canberra Aerodrome, Australian Capital Territory, on 5 August 2009

On 5 August 2009, during on a scheduled flight from Melbourne, Victoria (Vic) to Mackay, Queensland (Qld), the flight crew of an Airbus A320-232 aircraft, registered VH-VND, were advised of an electrical burning smell in the mid cabin area. Within 5 minutes of that advice, multiple left and right engine warnings were observed on the electronic centralised aircraft monitoring (ECAM) display. The flight was diverted to Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT) where an uneventful landing was conducted.

Subsequent examination found the electrical burning smell had originated from a fluorescent light ballast resistor in the cabin. The ECAM warnings were attributed to an internal fault in the number 2 display management computer (DMC).

Following similar incidents, the DMC manufacturer introduced a cyclic software check of parameters used in the receiving function, with an auto reset of the DMC if corrupted parameters were identified.

The aircraft manufacturer reviewed its operational procedures and provided operators with additional procedures for flight crew to transfer from a faulty DMC to an alternate DMC during flight or reset a faulty DMC on the ground.