Germanwings A319 near Cologne on Apr 8th 2014, Elmo's fire and loss of all instruments

A Germanwings Airbus A319-100, registration D-AGWK performing flight 4U-384 from Cologne (Germany) to Nador (Morocco), was climbing through FL180 out of Cologne when the crew noticed a light St. Elmo's Fire on the windscreen, which however increased in intensity as the aircraft climbed. At FL250 a brief flash of light was seen on the windscreen, at the same time all instruments except the attitude indicators failed, autopilot and autothrust disconnected. About 45-60 seconds after the flash the instruments recovered, the crew nonetheless decided to return to Cologne for a safe landing about 25 minutes after the flash of light.

Germany's BFU reported in their April Bulletin released on Sep 5th 2014, that the aircraft did not receive any damage and there were no injuries. The occurrence was rated a serious incident and is being investigated by the BFU.