B747 crew described a return to departure airport for an electrical burning smell a flight attendant...

Attributes
ACN	1332339
Time
Date	201602
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	FO
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B747 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Electrical Distribution Busbar
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 188 Flight Crew Total 11245 Flight Crew Type 8241
Person 2
Function	First Officer Pilot Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 184 Flight Crew Total 20800 Flight Crew Type 13298
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor

Narrative:

Passing 10;000 feet; a flight attendant called and reported an electrical burning smell; but no smoke; throughout the main and upper deck cabins. The crew discussed this smell and the captain said that he could smell it also. A minute after discussing the smell; the right util bus EICAS message displayed followed shortly with the left util bus EICAS message. Accomplished the smoke; fire; or fumes QRH and the captain declared a mayday with [ATC] and requested vectors for a return to ZZZZ. Crew discussed and decided not to dump fuel due to the nature of the emergency and the proximity of ZZZZ. A message was sent to dispatch declaring our mayday; the nature of our emergency; our intention to divert to ZZZZ and land overweight. Landing performance data was requested from dispatch and checked by the crew. Radio called to ZZZZ operations to notify them of our emergency and return to ZZZZ. Notified approach [that] we wanted the fire equipment waiting for us after landing. The electrical smell had dissipated. Uneventful overweight landing on runway xxr with a turnoff near the end. Cleared the runway and evaluated the brake temperatures and any other related problems and found everything normal. Declared ops normal to ground control was given taxi clearance to stand.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B747 crew described a return to departure airport for an electrical burning smell a Flight Attendant noticed.

Narrative: Passing 10;000 feet; a flight attendant called and reported an electrical burning smell; but no smoke; throughout the main and upper deck cabins. The crew discussed this smell and the Captain said that he could smell it also. A minute after discussing the smell; the Right Util Bus EICAS message displayed followed shortly with the Left Util Bus EICAS message. Accomplished the Smoke; Fire; or Fumes QRH and the Captain declared a mayday with [ATC] and requested vectors for a return to ZZZZ. Crew discussed and decided not to dump fuel due to the nature of the emergency and the proximity of ZZZZ. A message was sent to Dispatch declaring our Mayday; the nature of our emergency; our intention to divert to ZZZZ and land overweight. Landing performance data was requested from dispatch and checked by the crew. Radio called to ZZZZ operations to notify them of our emergency and return to ZZZZ. Notified approach [that] we wanted the fire equipment waiting for us after landing. The electrical smell had dissipated. Uneventful overweight landing on RWY XXR with a turnoff near the end. Cleared the runway and evaluated the brake temperatures and any other related problems and found everything normal. Declared ops normal to ground control was given taxi clearance to stand.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.

B747 crew described a return to departure airport for an electrical burning smell a flight attendant noticed.