Narrative:

I noticed the aircraft had not flown for two days and had been written up for right engine stalls and loud bangs on climbout; however; maintenance had signed it off. We accomplished all before start; push; taxi; and takeoff checklists normally. As we retracted the gear after takeoff we experienced what felt like a large bird smashing into the left side of the nose; one loud bang. All engine instruments where normal and we continued climbing. A few moments later; around 7;000 MSL; there were three or more loud bangs accompanied with a slight yaw. The first officer was the pilot flying and immediately applied the engine limit/surge/stall immediate action items.all engine indications normal. We kept the engine running and leveled off at 10;000. I reported our issue to departure and requested vectors to the ILS runway 35L. We had just briefed and shot that ILS on our inbound flight. The flight attendants were very concerned about the banging noise and knew something was not normal. They had rung the flight deck and after I had communicated with departure I answered their call. I informed them the right engine wasn't performing normally and we were going to return to [our departure airport] and make a normal landing. 'All is good and I'm about to make a PA.' I briefed the passengers and advised we would make a normal landing and I would speak to them again when we arrived at the gate. I also made a quick call to airport operations and informed them we were returning; so they could start the process of getting us a gate and contacting dispatch. The first officer was doing a very nice job flying the aircraft and after we looked at the engine limit/surge/stall checklist in the QRH we decided to leave the engine running and run the one engine inoperative landing checklist just in case we had to shut down the engine. At some point we received an off scheduled descent master caution and I ran that checklist as well. The controllers initiated an emergency for us and started vectoring us for an ILS 35R. I entered that approach into the CDU and briefed it. The weather was 300 overcast; visibility one mile in fog. After running the landing data; all the appropriate checklists and briefing the approach; I took over the pilot flying duties; shot the ILS 35R; made a normal landing; and taxied to the gate.on a return to the departing airport an off schedule descent light is expected. More information in the QRH would be helpful to ensure the landing pressurization is correct. Our original destination altitude was 750 ft (MSL) and we landed back at our departure airport which is several thousand feet higher. When all the checklists were run and the approach briefed; the aircraft was still pressurizing to 750 ft. We selected manual opening the out flow valve after discovering this problem while taxiing in.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737-700 crew experienced compressor stalls on climbout and return to the departure airport. The aircraft had been signed off as airworthy after a previous flight had experienced compressor stalls.

Narrative: I noticed the aircraft had not flown for two days and had been written up for right engine stalls and loud bangs on climbout; however; Maintenance had signed it off. We accomplished all Before Start; Push; Taxi; and Takeoff checklists normally. As we retracted the gear after takeoff we experienced what felt like a large bird smashing into the left side of the nose; one loud bang. All engine instruments where normal and we continued climbing. A few moments later; around 7;000 MSL; there were three or more loud bangs accompanied with a slight yaw. The First Officer was the Pilot Flying and immediately applied the Engine Limit/Surge/Stall Immediate Action items.All engine indications normal. We kept the engine running and leveled off at 10;000. I reported our issue to Departure and requested vectors to the ILS Runway 35L. We had just briefed and shot that ILS on our inbound flight. The flight attendants were very concerned about the banging noise and knew something was not normal. They had rung the flight deck and after I had communicated with Departure I answered their call. I informed them the right engine wasn't performing normally and we were going to return to [our departure airport] and make a normal landing. 'All is good and I'm about to make a PA.' I briefed the passengers and advised we would make a normal landing and I would speak to them again when we arrived at the gate. I also made a quick call to airport Operations and informed them we were returning; so they could start the process of getting us a gate and contacting Dispatch. The First Officer was doing a very nice job flying the aircraft and after we looked at the Engine Limit/Surge/Stall Checklist in the QRH we decided to leave the engine running and run the One Engine Inoperative Landing Checklist just in case we had to shut down the engine. At some point we received an Off Scheduled Descent master caution and I ran that checklist as well. The controllers initiated an emergency for us and started vectoring us for an ILS 35R. I entered that approach into the CDU and briefed it. The weather was 300 overcast; visibility one mile in fog. After running the landing data; all the appropriate checklists and briefing the approach; I took over the Pilot Flying duties; shot the ILS 35R; made a normal landing; and taxied to the gate.On a return to the departing airport an Off Schedule Descent light is expected. More information in the QRH would be helpful to ensure the landing pressurization is correct. Our original destination altitude was 750 FT (MSL) and we landed back at our departure airport which is several thousand feet higher. When all the checklists were run and the approach briefed; the aircraft was still pressurizing to 750 FT. We selected manual opening the out flow valve after discovering this problem while taxiing in.

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.