Date: 201411
Local time of day: 0601-1200
Location: ZZZ.Airport, US
Flight conditions: VMC
Aircraft: A320
Operator: Air Carrier
Operating under: Part 121
Flight plan: IFR
Mission: Passenger
Flight phase: Parked; Cruise
Aircraft component: Spoiler System
Component problem: Malfunctioning
Reporter organization: Air Carrier
Reporter function: Pilot Not Flying; First Officer
Human factors: Situational Awareness; Training / Qualification; Confusion; Communication Breakdown
Anomaly: Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural MEL / CDL; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Detector: Person Flight Crew
When detected: In-flight
Result: Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem
Contributing factors: Human Factors
Primary problem: Human Factors

Narrative: We were scheduled for a 1015L push from ZZZ for a flight to ZZZ1.  When we arrived at the aircraft; Maintenance; three mechanics were already on the aircraft in the cockpit and one up top who they were communicating with a walkie talkie. They informed us that the incoming crew had a spoiler inoperative ECAM and that they were in the process of deactivating the written up spoiler.  After a few minutes; two of the three mechanics left the cockpit and just one mechanic stayed behind in the Captain's seat. I asked the mechanic if it was OK if I sat in the co-pilot seat so I can load the box and prep for the flight.  As I sat there and loaded the box; I noticed that the mechanics were having a difficult time trying to figure out how to get the spoilers out so they can check and verify that the spoilers they deactivated were actually deactivated. They had the electric hydraulic pump switch on; along with the Blue override system on.  With both systems on; they lowered the flaps so the flaps were down in the Full position.  In this configuration; they were unable to get the spoilers to come out [up] so they can verify that the spoilers that were written up were in fact deactivated.  As I sat there and watched them; I did not ask which spoilers they were deactivating and assumed they were deactivating the ones written up.  At this point; another two mechanics showed up in the cockpit and the three of them still could not figure out how to get the spoilers out to verify.  After several more minutes; they said they had to make a call to a technical expert.  After they spoke to their technical expert; they were able to get the spoilers out to verify the spoilers were out [up] and that the deactivated ones indeed showed an Amber X; and were in the locked position. I saw the FLT CNTL page on the lower [ECAM] screen and saw the two Amber X's over a spoiler on each side.  They said we were good to go and an Maintenance Release would be on the way.  They left the cockpit; the Captain got in his seat and we proceeded with our pre-flight duties.  After several more minutes; the new Maintenance Release came across the printer.  The Maintenance Release said that the previous crew had reported that the # 4 spoiler had an ECAM fault.  It also showed that Maintenance deactivated the # 4 spoiler along with the MEL and associated crew actions.  Up until this point; I assumed and trusted that Maintenance had deactivated the correct spoiler since there were Amber X's over a spoiler on each side.  After engine start; the MEL stated for the crew to confirm that the # 4 spoilers were deactivated; which we thought we did.  We pulled up the FLT CNTL page and we saw the two Amber Xs over the two spoilers that Maintenance had deactivated.  We took off from ZZZ with no problems.  After an hour into the flight; we got an ECAM that said we had a flight control spoiler fault.  We pulled up the Flight Control Page and noticed another two Amber X's over a spoiler on each side.  After a few minutes of trying to figure out what was going on and kind of odd that another two spoilers would fault; the Captain had Dispatch put us through with Maintenance Control. Maintenance Control informed us that they spoke to ZZZ Maintenance and that Maintenance had locked-out the wrong spoilers.  We pulled out the A320 flight manual to look at the spoiler schematic and at this point we realized that Maintenance deactivated the # 2 spoilers on each side and not the # 4 spoilers.  Unfortunately the spoilers are not labeled; and when we looked at the spoilers to verify which ones were deactivated as per the MEL after engine start; we thought that the ones we were looking at were indeed the # 4 when they were actually the # 2 spoilers.  We checked landing performance as per the charts and landed in ZZZ1 without incident.




Synopsis: First Officer (F/O) reports about the confusion and difficulty Maintenance was having trying to figure out how to get the spoilers up on an A320 aircraft; so they could check and verify that the spoilers they deactivated  for an MEL deferral; were actually deactivated. Flight crew realizes in flight that # 2 spoilers were deactivated instead of # 4 spoilers that had a previous ECAM fault.