Narrative:

Right after takeoff in ZZZ the tower called to report heavy smoke coming from our right engine. Controller was quite enthusiastic about the amount of smoke and that it was only the right engine affected. Our engine instruments showed normal but we asked for vectors for a downwind to assess situation. As we were getting vectors we attempted to reach dispatch/maintenance via satcom but were unable to contact. We had our flight attendants do a visual assessment out the windows and they reported no smoke that they could see. We asked for an approach to ZZZ so that our maintenance and/or the fire department could assess if there was excessive smoke from the right engine. After the approach the tower again reiterated very excessive smoke from the right engine on climb out.at this time we were finally able to contact dispatch and maintenance who said there was no excessive oil consumption and that he couldn't detect any abnormalities with either engine. We discussed that the excessive smoke seemed to be when the engines were at a higher power setting. By the time we conferred with maintenance we informed dispatch that we only had about 84;000 lbs of fuel and were concerned that it was well below our minto of 88.8. We were also planned well south of the normal routes due to weather and rides. We felt that the best decision was to return to ZZZ to refuel and at the same time we could have maintenance do an inspection of the engine as well. It was decided we would dump fuel to our max landing weight and return to ZZZ.we informed ATC that we needed to dump fuel and were told to hold at zzzzzat 5;000 feet. At XA48Z with the fuel at 82;200 lbs we initiated the fuel jettison procedure. Shortly after initiating the fuel jettison we received a fuel jettison main EICAS telling us that the right main fuel jettison had malfunctioned. We discontinued dumping at this point as per the fuel jettison main checklist at XA53 with 72;000 lbs of fuel remaining. We contacted maintenance again and informed him of the jettison malfunction and that we would be doing an overweight landing at ZZZ.ATC and the company were informed of our return and we requested the fire trucks nearby for our landing. We did a 30 flaps landing at approximately 472;000 lbs to a very smooth touchdown.maintenance inspected the engine and determined that the engine intermix probably played a large part in the concern from ATC on our takeoff because the left engine was relatively new and the right was considerably older. The mechanic also said he noted the excessive smoke in the right engine vs. The left but didn't feel that it was any more than a normal amount. The engine was inspected with no findings of problems; the overweight landing inspection was completed; and a new flight plan was filed with an MEL item of the right main fuel jettison inop. I contacted the flight operations as soon as we returned to the gate to report our incident and airport return and informed them that the crew was ready to go as soon as the proper maintenance and paperwork were done. We received the new release and flight plan release and left the gate as soon as we had everything.on taxi-out the tower controller asked what we found out about the right engine and proceeded to again express how highly alarmed he was by the amount of smoke on takeoff. We explained to him why there was such a difference between the engines due to the intermix and thanked him for his vigilance and concern. The flight to ZZZ1 was completed without further incident.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B777 flight crew reported being advised by the Tower of excessive smoke coming from an engine during takeoff and returned to land overweight.

Narrative: Right after takeoff in ZZZ the tower called to report heavy smoke coming from our right engine. Controller was quite enthusiastic about the amount of smoke and that it was only the right engine affected. Our engine instruments showed normal but we asked for vectors for a downwind to assess situation. As we were getting vectors we attempted to reach Dispatch/Maintenance via SATCOM but were unable to contact. We had our Flight Attendants do a visual assessment out the windows and they reported no smoke that they could see. We asked for an approach to ZZZ so that our maintenance and/or the Fire Department could assess if there was excessive smoke from the right engine. After the approach the tower again reiterated very excessive smoke from the right engine on climb out.At this time we were finally able to contact Dispatch and Maintenance who said there was no excessive oil consumption and that he couldn't detect any abnormalities with either engine. We discussed that the excessive smoke seemed to be when the engines were at a higher power setting. By the time we conferred with Maintenance we informed Dispatch that we only had about 84;000 lbs of fuel and were concerned that it was well below our MINTO of 88.8. We were also planned well south of the normal routes due to weather and rides. We felt that the best decision was to return to ZZZ to refuel and at the same time we could have Maintenance do an inspection of the engine as well. It was decided we would dump fuel to our max landing weight and return to ZZZ.We informed ATC that we needed to dump fuel and were told to hold at ZZZZZat 5;000 feet. At XA48Z with the fuel at 82;200 lbs we initiated the Fuel Jettison Procedure. Shortly after initiating the fuel jettison we received a Fuel Jettison Main EICAS telling us that the right main fuel jettison had malfunctioned. We discontinued dumping at this point as per the Fuel Jettison Main checklist at XA53 with 72;000 lbs of fuel remaining. We contacted Maintenance again and informed him of the jettison malfunction and that we would be doing an overweight landing at ZZZ.ATC and the company were informed of our return and we requested the fire trucks nearby for our landing. We did a 30 flaps landing at approximately 472;000 lbs to a very smooth touchdown.Maintenance inspected the engine and determined that the engine intermix probably played a large part in the concern from ATC on our takeoff because the left engine was relatively new and the right was considerably older. The mechanic also said he noted the excessive smoke in the right engine vs. the left but didn't feel that it was any more than a normal amount. The engine was inspected with no findings of problems; the overweight landing inspection was completed; and a new flight plan was filed with an MEL item of the right main fuel jettison inop. I contacted the flight operations as soon as we returned to the gate to report our incident and airport return and informed them that the crew was ready to go as soon as the proper maintenance and paperwork were done. We received the new release and flight plan release and left the gate as soon as we had everything.On taxi-out the tower controller asked what we found out about the right engine and proceeded to again express how highly alarmed he was by the amount of smoke on takeoff. We explained to him why there was such a difference between the engines due to the intermix and thanked him for his vigilance and concern. The flight to ZZZ1 was completed without further incident.

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.