A boeing 757 captain reported an electrical odor smell evident in the cockpit and cabin. The flight ...

Narrative:

Shortly after leveling off at cruise I noticed a smell of electrical smoke. We called the cabin to ask if there was anything in the oven. He replied no and said he smelled the smoke too. It persisted and got worse. Within approximately three minutes we [advised ATC]; made an emergency descent and landed in ZZZ.dispatch was immediately notified via sat phone of our situation and intentions to divert.the cockpit oxygen masks were removed but were not donned. There was no visible smoke; only the smell. The QRH was accomplished up to the point of troubleshooting the source of the smoke as there was very little time left before landing.an overweight landing was accomplished with a smooth touchdown and minimal braking. No injuries or ailments were reported from the crew or the passengers. An orderly deplaning was accomplished at [the gate].maintenance personnel identified a tripped circuit breaker for the equipment cooling fan. The fan was removed and had evidence of smoke and soot on the rotor vanes as well as the same smell experienced in the cabin.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Boeing 757 captain reported an electrical odor smell evident in the cockpit and cabin. The flight completed a successful diversion to a suitable airport.

Narrative: Shortly after leveling off at cruise I noticed a smell of electrical smoke. We called the cabin to ask if there was anything in the oven. He replied no and said he smelled the smoke too. It persisted and got worse. Within approximately three minutes we [advised ATC]; made an emergency descent and landed in ZZZ.Dispatch was immediately notified via sat phone of our situation and intentions to divert.The cockpit oxygen masks were removed but were not donned. There was no visible smoke; only the smell. The QRH was accomplished up to the point of troubleshooting the source of the smoke as there was very little time left before landing.An overweight landing was accomplished with a smooth touchdown and minimal braking. No injuries or ailments were reported from the crew or the passengers. An orderly deplaning was accomplished at [the gate].Maintenance personnel identified a tripped circuit breaker for the equipment cooling fan. The fan was removed and had evidence of smoke and soot on the rotor vanes as well as the same smell experienced in the cabin.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1498720
Time
Date	201711
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B757 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Cooling Fan any cooling fan
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Total 3564 Flight Crew Type 1307
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor

A boeing 757 captain reported an electrical odor smell evident in the cockpit and cabin. The flight completed a successful diversion to a suitable airport.