Narrative:

Once airborne me and the first officer (first officer) could smell what it appeared to be oil fumes coming from one of the packs. This kind of event happened in the past but it would normally go away almost immediately. This time the odor was strong enough to get us talking about it. Around 2;000 MSL I called the flight attendant (flight attendant) to see if she was smelling the same thing but she did not. During the climbout I decided to momentarily turn pack number 1 off and the smell went away. At this point we were sending messages to maintenance control and they told us to monitor the oil quantity and informed us that dispatch was following our conversation with them. We noticed that the oil quantity for engine number 1 was showing 9 qt; we had 12 qt before we left; and the oil smell was minimal but it was still present.at this point I wasn't comfortable going all the way to [the destination] breathing that kind of air in the flight deck and I started discussing with the first officer the possibility of an air return. I called the flight attendant again to verify if she or anyone in the cabin were complaining about strong smells of oil but she said that everything was ok. The first officer and I talked about possible physiological side effects that we needed to be aware of and because of that we were constantly asking one another how we were feeling. I also suggested using the oxygen mask at intervals as a precaution. Right at that point dispatch sent a message asking if we wanted to return and we said yes. We got a route amendment; we made a plan; I informed the flight attendant about our intentions; talked to the passengers and finally to ATC.even though we never [advised ATC]; [they] still treated [us like a priority]. Once below FL250 we turned the pack 1 off to minimize the exposure to the fumes and at a lower altitude we turned the engine bleeds off and supplied air-conditioning from the APU. The first officer at some point was complaining about a minor burning sensation on his nose and we both started feeling a light headache descending through 6;000 MSL.there were rescue vehicles waiting for us and we were directed to stop the plane on the taxiway and wait for them to complete an aircraft inspection. They thought we had smoke in the flight deck and I had to correct them. After giving them more details about our situation they found a puddle of oil on the ground below engine number 1. We taxied to our gate; made an entry in the aircraft log; talked to maintenance staff about the situation; talked to the on-call chief pilot and told him that I was not fit to fly anymore. He suggested that we should go to the airport clinic and have a check-up but since it was closed we concluded that the best action was getting some rest and go to the clinic next day early in the morning.even though we had no smoke in the flight deck I should had performed the fire/smoke QRH and have worn the O2 mask the whole time and not just using O2 at intervals like we were doing. I would suggest that the fire/smoke QRH should be renamed in a way to address the possibility of fumes when smoke is not present.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: EMB-145 Captain reported that after takeoff there was an odor of oil fumes in the cockpit.

Narrative: Once airborne me and the FO (First Officer) could smell what it appeared to be oil fumes coming from one of the packs. This kind of event happened in the past but it would normally go away almost immediately. This time the odor was strong enough to get us talking about it. Around 2;000 MSL I called the FA (Flight Attendant) to see if she was smelling the same thing but she did not. During the climbout I decided to momentarily turn pack Number 1 off and the smell went away. At this point we were sending messages to Maintenance Control and they told us to monitor the oil quantity and informed us that Dispatch was following our conversation with them. We noticed that the oil quantity for ENG Number 1 was showing 9 QT; we had 12 QT before we left; and the oil smell was minimal but it was still present.At this point I wasn't comfortable going all the way to [the destination] breathing that kind of air in the flight deck and I started discussing with the FO the possibility of an air return. I called the FA again to verify if she or anyone in the cabin were complaining about strong smells of oil but she said that everything was OK. The FO and I talked about possible physiological side effects that we needed to be aware of and because of that we were constantly asking one another how we were feeling. I also suggested using the oxygen mask at intervals as a precaution. Right at that point Dispatch sent a message asking if we wanted to return and we said YES. We got a route amendment; we made a plan; I informed the FA about our intentions; talked to the passengers and finally to ATC.Even though we never [advised ATC]; [they] still treated [us like a priority]. Once below FL250 we turned the PACK 1 OFF to minimize the exposure to the fumes and at a lower altitude we turned the engine bleeds off and supplied air-conditioning from the APU. The FO at some point was complaining about a minor burning sensation on his nose and we both started feeling a light headache descending through 6;000 MSL.There were rescue vehicles waiting for us and we were directed to stop the plane on the taxiway and wait for them to complete an aircraft inspection. They thought we had smoke in the flight deck and I had to correct them. After giving them more details about our situation they found a puddle of oil on the ground below ENG Number 1. We taxied to our gate; made an entry in the aircraft log; talked to Maintenance staff about the situation; talked to the on-call Chief Pilot and told him that I was not fit to fly anymore. He suggested that we should go to the airport clinic and have a check-up but since it was closed we concluded that the best action was getting some rest and go to the clinic next day early in the morning.Even though we had no smoke in the flight deck I should had performed the FIRE/SMOKE QRH and have worn the O2 mask the whole time and not just using O2 at intervals like we were doing. I would suggest that the FIRE/SMOKE QRH should be renamed in a way to address the possibility of fumes when smoke is not present.

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.