Narrative:

On takeoff; as the gear was retracting; we heard some relays 'clicking' for about 25-30 seconds. I went the electric page on the mfd; the first officer went to the fuel page to try and identify the source of the relay noise. The gear retracted as normal. Shortly after; we smelled a smoky smell in the cockpit. After reaching 1500 ft; we finished our after takeoff checklist and contacted departure as instructed. As we continued to climb; we tried to trouble shoot where the smell was coming from. It started to dissipate. We called the flight attendant who informed us that she had seen some smoke on the floor...midsection for a moment during takeoff; but did not smell it or report it to us until we called. While she was checking the isle area where she smelled the smoke; we started to smell an electrical/burning smell. At that time; we declared an emergency. We briefed the flight attendant that we were going to do a precautionary landing with crash fire rescue equipment standing by. We would not evacuate unless we told her...and our intent was to deplane at the gate. If at any time she smelled or saw smoke; she needed to call us. The first officer called operations for a gate assignment; briefed the passengers; set the new landing speeds; and set up the FMS for the approach. I then briefed the approach; and overweight landing procedures. We chose to extend the landing gear a ways away from the airport to ensure that it would operate properly...it did. We touched down with less than 300 FPM descent rate. After pulling off the runway; crash fire rescue equipment inspected the aircraft on site and gave us the 'ok' to go to the gate. They then proceeded to follow us to the gate where we were parked and deplaned. FAA inspectors and crash fire rescue equipment inspected the aircraft along with maintenance.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: EMB145 Captain reports electrical smell and smoke shortly after takeoff; an emergency was declared and an uneventful overweight landing ensued.

Narrative: On takeoff; as the gear was retracting; we heard some relays 'clicking' for about 25-30 seconds. I went the electric page on the MFD; the First Officer went to the fuel page to try and identify the source of the relay noise. The gear retracted as normal. Shortly after; we smelled a smoky smell in the cockpit. After reaching 1500 FT; we finished our after takeoff checklist and contacted departure as instructed. As we continued to climb; we tried to trouble shoot where the smell was coming from. It started to dissipate. We called the Flight Attendant who informed us that she had seen some smoke on the floor...midsection for a moment during takeoff; but did not smell it or report it to us until we called. While she was checking the isle area where she smelled the smoke; we started to smell an electrical/burning smell. At that time; we declared an emergency. We briefed the flight attendant that we were going to do a precautionary landing with CFR standing by. We would not evacuate unless we told her...and our intent was to deplane at the gate. If at any time she smelled or saw smoke; she needed to call us. The First Officer called operations for a gate assignment; briefed the passengers; set the new landing speeds; and set up the FMS for the approach. I then briefed the approach; and overweight landing procedures. We chose to extend the landing gear a ways away from the airport to ensure that it would operate properly...it did. We touched down with less than 300 FPM descent rate. After pulling off the runway; CFR inspected the aircraft on site and gave us the 'OK' to go to the gate. They then proceeded to follow us to the gate where we were parked and deplaned. FAA Inspectors and CFR inspected the aircraft along with maintenance.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.