Narrative:

While climbing we experienced a red EICAS message related to the left engine bleed system. When receiving the aircraft earlier in the day; the captain reviewed the aircraft logbook and communicated with me that recently there had been problems with the bleed system. When the EICAS message appeared; it was dealt with calmly and quickly. We had been assigned a climb to FL230 and climbing through FL200 when the problem occurred; we asked ATC for a level off. ATC cleared us to FL200. I assumed the pilot flying duties and radios while the captain ran through the QRH. The QRH called for the bleeds to be in the closed position and a descent to 10;000 or lowest safe altitude. Immediately; I commenced a descent to 10;000 while notifying ATC. ATC said maintain FL200 due to traffic. I turned the descent into a climb back to fl 200 and declared an emergency. ATC acknowledged; and due to traffic cleared us to turn left to a heading of 270 and a descent to 11;000. We requested a diversion and ATC cleared left heading 180; radar vectors the airport. After completion of the QRH; the captain notified the cabin crew; operations/company; and the passengers of the situation. While on the approach segment of flight the emergency was terminated without a need for ground assistance. On the ground; tower notified of a phone number to call and center was called. During the descent; separation of aircraft had been compromised; however an emergency was declared. No TCAS annunciations were experienced.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CRJ700 First Officer reports left engine bleed EICAS message passing FL200 in climb. QRH calls for bleeds to be off and descent to 10000 feet. Descent was initiated prior to requesting clearance or declaring an emergency. Separation was lost and the flight returned safely to departure airport.

Narrative: While climbing we experienced a red EICAS message related to the left engine bleed system. When receiving the aircraft earlier in the day; the Captain reviewed the aircraft logbook and communicated with me that recently there had been problems with the bleed system. When the EICAS message appeared; it was dealt with calmly and quickly. We had been assigned a climb to FL230 and climbing through FL200 when the problem occurred; we asked ATC for a level off. ATC cleared us to FL200. I assumed the pilot flying duties and radios while the Captain ran through the QRH. The QRH called for the bleeds to be in the closed position and a descent to 10;000 or lowest safe altitude. Immediately; I commenced a descent to 10;000 while notifying ATC. ATC said maintain FL200 due to traffic. I turned the descent into a climb back to FL 200 and declared an emergency. ATC acknowledged; and due to traffic cleared us to turn left to a heading of 270 and a descent to 11;000. We requested a diversion and ATC cleared left heading 180; radar vectors the airport. After completion of the QRH; the Captain notified the cabin crew; operations/company; and the passengers of the situation. While on the approach segment of flight the emergency was terminated without a need for ground assistance. On the ground; Tower notified of a phone number to call and Center was called. During the descent; separation of aircraft had been compromised; however an emergency was declared. No TCAS annunciations were experienced.

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.