Narrative:

The aircraft had a previous write-up regarding fumes and the cabin printer at door 2L had been replaced. The planned route to rjaa was 180 minutes ETOPS; pretty far south; crossing 40n140w 41n150w 42n160w 43n170w 42n180e 40n170e. Event began at FL350 cruise about 2 hours into the flight. During a restroom break for the flying pilots the captain went out and the flight attendant who came into the cockpit engaged me in conversation. The conversation topics varied; then with no concern expressed; he told me about the strong smell near door 2L during pre-flight boarding which he thought had been coming from the jetway. He had not noticed the smell in flight. The captain returned shortly and we discussed the flight attendant's comments; and as I also needed a restroom break; [I] offered to go by the door 2L to see if the smell was still there. While standing in front of door 2L nothing was noticeable; but standing facing the inflight entertainment workstation 'kiosk' I could smell hot/burning plastic. I opened the twin small doors (about 4'x7' each) and could see the previously replaced cabin printer. With the doors open; the smell was pretty strong; but no smoke. Nothing was hot to the touch; the printer itself was very warm; and the back of the ife and other switches were warm. I reported to the captain via intercom; and then woke the augmenting pilot from his rest seat; asking him to check the area also. Our augmenting pilot; along with our deadhead captain; went to investigate further while I returned to the cockpit. The augmenting pilot called to the captain and said they smelled the same fumes from the printer area; the printer seemed unusually warm; and [they] had turned off what they believed to be the printer power. The captain by now was involved in a satvoice call to dispatch and maintenance. We began to work through the fumes irregular checklist; including turning off inflight entertainment (ife) power and seat power outlets; both switches being located at the door 2L ife kiosk; as well as recirculation fans and gasper fans. We were still flying directly away from our nearest suitable airport [the departure airport] and no other airport coming into range for quite a bit of time. The augmenting pilot informed us the printer not quite as warm as before; the fumes were still present; but the fumes seemed less strong. The augmenting pilot returned to the cockpit as we discussed our options with dispatch. Although the condition seemed that it may be resolving; we were left with the fact that there was a previous maintenance repair that was unsuccessful; the smell was still there; plus every 1 minute down track was 2 minutes further from landing. The captain decided to return to [departure airport] and informed dispatch. We began with a FMC routes page offset of 15nm right; sent an ads emergency message; and made a pan pan call on guard for our pacots track-east traffic. As the offset progressed we changed altitude from FL350 to FL345; executed divert [departure airport] via the FMC alternates page; and completed the turn to [departure airport]. During all this we received a response 'confirm' to our ads emergency. I initially replied with ads text requesting direct [departure airport] and cpdlc route request. Our augmenting pilot quickly pointed out we could call [center] oceanic via satvoice. The call was made; and we were able to clarify with ATC our current position; altitude and track. I inquired if ATC needed any intermediate waypoints; but our clearance remained direct [departure airport] with block FL340-350. Several aircraft responded to our 'pan pan' call via VHF radio. Position reporting along our 2-1/2 hour return was not quite as expected. Although we had installed FMC legs page crossing at 140W (4045n140w) and 130W (3920n130w); they did not automatically report to company; and we had little confidence they were cpdlc reporting to ATC. One minute after the 140W waypoint; we noted the position page had not reported; so we used the send prompt at position report 6R. We also sent a cpdlc position report at this time. A couple of minutes later; dispatch requested our 140W report. We finally sent via company-communication dispatch free text.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B777-200 First Officer reported Flight Attendant noticed a smell of smoke about two hours into a transoceanic flight; so they declared an emergency and returned to departure airport.

Narrative: The aircraft had a previous write-up regarding fumes and the cabin printer at Door 2L had been replaced. The planned route to RJAA was 180 minutes ETOPS; pretty far south; crossing 40N140W 41N150W 42N160W 43N170W 42N180E 40N170E. Event began at FL350 cruise about 2 hours into the flight. During a restroom break for the flying pilots the Captain went out and the Flight Attendant who came into the cockpit engaged me in conversation. The conversation topics varied; then with no concern expressed; he told me about the strong smell near Door 2L during pre-flight boarding which he thought had been coming from the jetway. He had not noticed the smell in flight. The Captain returned shortly and we discussed the Flight Attendant's comments; and as I also needed a restroom break; [I] offered to go by the Door 2L to see if the smell was still there. While standing in front of Door 2L nothing was noticeable; but standing facing the inflight entertainment workstation 'kiosk' I could smell hot/burning plastic. I opened the twin small doors (about 4'x7' each) and could see the previously replaced cabin printer. With the doors open; the smell was pretty strong; but no smoke. Nothing was hot to the touch; the printer itself was very warm; and the back of the IFE and other switches were warm. I reported to the Captain via intercom; and then woke the augmenting pilot from his rest seat; asking him to check the area also. Our augmenting pilot; along with our deadhead Captain; went to investigate further while I returned to the cockpit. The augmenting pilot called to the Captain and said they smelled the same fumes from the printer area; the printer seemed unusually warm; and [they] had turned off what they believed to be the printer power. The Captain by now was involved in a SATVOICE call to Dispatch and Maintenance. We began to work through the Fumes Irregular checklist; including turning off inflight entertainment (IFE) power and seat power outlets; both switches being located at the Door 2L IFE kiosk; as well as recirculation fans and gasper fans. We were still flying directly away from our nearest suitable airport [the departure airport] and no other airport coming into range for quite a bit of time. The augmenting pilot informed us the printer not quite as warm as before; the fumes were still present; but the fumes seemed less strong. The augmenting pilot returned to the cockpit as we discussed our options with Dispatch. Although the condition seemed that it may be resolving; we were left with the fact that there was a previous maintenance repair that was unsuccessful; the smell was still there; plus every 1 minute down track was 2 minutes further from landing. The Captain decided to return to [departure airport] and informed Dispatch. We began with a FMC ROUTES page offset of 15nm right; sent an ADS emergency message; and made a PAN PAN call on guard for our PACOTS Track-E traffic. As the offset progressed we changed altitude from FL350 to FL345; executed DIVERT [departure airport] via the FMC ALTERNATES page; and completed the turn to [departure airport]. During all this we received a response 'CONFIRM' to our ADS emergency. I initially replied with ADS text requesting direct [departure airport] and CPDLC ROUTE request. Our augmenting pilot quickly pointed out we could call [Center] OCEANIC via SATVOICE. The call was made; and we were able to clarify with ATC our current position; altitude and track. I inquired if ATC needed any intermediate waypoints; but our clearance remained direct [departure airport] with block FL340-350. Several aircraft responded to our 'PAN PAN' call via VHF radio. Position reporting along our 2-1/2 hour return was not quite as expected. Although we had installed FMC LEGS page crossing at 140W (4045N140W) and 130W (3920N130W); they did not automatically report to Company; and we had little confidence they were CPDLC reporting to ATC. One minute after the 140W waypoint; we noted the POS page had not reported; so we used the send prompt at POS REPORT 6R. We also sent a CPDLC POSITION report at this time. A couple of minutes later; Dispatch requested our 140W report. We finally sent via COMPANY-COM DISPATCH free text.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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.