Narrative:

Upon acceptance of the ship there was a note from maintenance; hanging on each pilot's control column that the ship has gone under engine wash last night; and on first flight takeoff and initial climb you might experience odor or smell of something like a 'furnace that hadn't been used in a while'. That flight was my three month; post upgrade line check. Everything performed as normal and as standard as possible. Crew briefing regarding that note has been completed. Flight attendants have been notified; and during my passenger announcement I mentioned that during takeoff and initial climb they might experience a weird smell which is related to the detergent maintenance used on engine wash and it should be nontoxic and normal. Upon advancing thrust for takeoff; I noticed a white cloud; momentarily puffed out of the vent. Then I thought; ok; here it should be the residue of the detergent they used to wash engines; so there's no reason to discontinue the takeoff. But as we roll down the runway and during liftoff from ground; it became very irritating. Every possible action like aborting; declaring emergency and diverting back to the field after takeoff; or using oxygen masks during first climb out; came to my mind; but my thought process was that let's not rush and put myself in a more risky reaction close to ground or aborting at high speed; and let's trust what maintenance advised. I remembered from the note that it was nontoxic so there shouldn't be a problem breathing it; and it should go away after takeoff; so I gave it some time. After reaching about 2000ft to 3000ft it started to disappear; and we continued the climb. After 10;000 feet we received a call from cabin that they as well; experienced the cloud and although passengers and flight attendants have been briefed on that; they were very concerned on what they experienced as it appeared to be similar to smoke. They said it disappeared shortly after takeoff.it was first time for both me and my first officer to fly an aircraft after an engine wash; so we didn't know to what degree what we experienced was normal. The check airman onboard said he has had post engine wash flights in the past and his experience of it was not that intense. So we sent a message through ACARS to dispatch; seeking advice from maintenance asking whether what we experienced was normal or not. They came back to us with 'it is normal'. Then having no other indication of malfunction or visible cloud; we decided to continue our flight to destination. During decent; whenever we had power changes; the smell of engine detergent became more intense. So after landing we wrote it up in the logbook and the local maintenance person did an idle engine run with us at the gate and advised what we experienced; was a normal consequence of engine wash and there's no malfunction or further problem. Second leg; getting back was uneventful. I remember I intentionally turned the cockpit temperature down before takeoff; to make it more comfortable for three persons seating in the cockpit. Destination temperature at that day was around 80 deg F. I think like every other time when cold air blowing into moist warm air forming a vapor; this time detergent particles contributed further as condensation nuclei; formed a type of visible cloud that besides appearance smelled different. I hope this crew report further clarifies the crew experience note that they receive post engine wash. Because the startling factor of such experience can be confusing and can lead to unwanted reactions. Besides that; I hope maintenance procedures revise and improve in a way that higher power engine runs are being performed to the point that not much residue remain in the bleeds before releasing the aircraft to service; so crew members and passengers do not experience that kind of intense smells and visible clouds.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An EMB-175 Captain and Flight Attendant reported being aware of an engine wash and expected light white smoke on takeoff; but the cabin smoke/vapor remained about 20 minutes. The Flight Attendant reported a headache and the pilots were surprised about the intensity and considered using oxygen.

Narrative: Upon acceptance of the ship there was a note from maintenance; hanging on each pilot's control column that the ship has gone under engine wash last night; and on first flight takeoff and initial climb you might experience odor or smell of something like a 'furnace that hadn't been used in a while'. That flight was my three month; post upgrade line check. Everything performed as normal and as standard as possible. Crew briefing regarding that note has been completed. Flight attendants have been notified; and during my passenger announcement I mentioned that during takeoff and initial climb they might experience a weird smell which is related to the detergent maintenance used on engine wash and it should be nontoxic and normal. Upon advancing thrust for takeoff; I noticed a white cloud; momentarily puffed out of the vent. Then I thought; OK; here it should be the residue of the detergent they used to wash engines; so there's no reason to discontinue the takeoff. But as we roll down the runway and during liftoff from ground; it became very irritating. Every possible action like aborting; declaring emergency and diverting back to the field after takeoff; or using oxygen masks during first climb out; came to my mind; but my thought process was that let's not rush and put myself in a more risky reaction close to ground or aborting at high speed; and let's trust what maintenance advised. I remembered from the note that it was nontoxic so there shouldn't be a problem breathing it; and it should go away after takeoff; so I gave it some time. After reaching about 2000ft to 3000ft it started to disappear; and we continued the climb. After 10;000 feet we received a call from Cabin that they as well; experienced the cloud and although passengers and flight attendants have been briefed on that; they were very concerned on what they experienced as it appeared to be similar to smoke. They said it disappeared shortly after takeoff.It was first time for both me and my first officer to fly an aircraft after an engine wash; so we didn't know to what degree what we experienced was normal. The check airman onboard said he has had post engine wash flights in the past and his experience of it was not that intense. So we sent a message through ACARS to dispatch; seeking advice from maintenance asking whether what we experienced was normal or not. They came back to us with 'It is normal'. Then having no other indication of malfunction or visible cloud; we decided to continue our flight to destination. During decent; whenever we had power changes; the smell of engine detergent became more intense. So after landing we wrote it up in the logbook and the local maintenance person did an idle engine run with us at the gate and advised what we experienced; was a normal consequence of engine wash and there's no malfunction or further problem. Second leg; getting back was uneventful. I remember I intentionally turned the cockpit temperature down before takeoff; to make it more comfortable for three persons seating in the cockpit. Destination temperature at that day was around 80 deg F. I think like every other time when cold air blowing into moist warm air forming a vapor; this time detergent particles contributed further as condensation nuclei; formed a type of visible cloud that besides appearance smelled different. I hope this Crew report further clarifies the Crew Experience Note that they receive post engine wash. Because the startling factor of such experience can be confusing and can lead to unwanted reactions. Besides that; I hope maintenance procedures revise and improve in a way that higher power engine runs are being performed to the point that not much residue remain in the bleeds before releasing the aircraft to service; so crew members and passengers do not experience that kind of intense smells and visible clouds.

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.