Narrative:

After a normal takeoff from runway xxr at ZZZ; while climbing through ~15;000'; we had the rear bay overheat annunciator illuminate; with associated flashing master caution lights. The annunciator extinguished quickly thereafter; then illuminated steadily again. I confirmed the annunciator with my first officer; canceled the flashing caution lights and conducted the associated memory items followed by the appropriate emergency checklist. I then requested an immediate return to our departure airport for landing from center; and we were given a descent. We were handed off to approach control who gave us a vector and cleared us for a visual approach to the runway of our choice. Upon their request; I gave approach control the nature of our problem; souls on board; and fuel state. They responded that they were 'rolling the gear'. By this time the annunciator had extinguished; it had only been illuminated for ~15-30 seconds total time. We were then handed off to tower control; who cleared us to land runway. I ran the appropriate checklists; observed all systems and gauges were normal; first officer lined up on centerline and performed a normal landing with no APU. We exited on the north high-speed; taxied clear of all taxiways; parked just adjacent to the fire equipment on the apron and performed a precautionary shutdown. Upon exiting the aircraft; we inspected the rear bay area; airframe; engines; etc.; and found no indications of fire; smoke; high temperatures or damage. I then called the assistant chief pilot on duty and relayed the incident to him; and we had the hawker towed on a lektro to the FBO. At no time during the short flight did we have any secondary indications of high temperatures in the rear bay; or abnormal indications in the cockpit. The total flight time was ~10 minutes.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An HS125-800XP REAR BAY OVERHEAT in conjunction with the Master Caution light illuminated at about 15;000 FT after takeoff. An emergency was declared with a return to land; no damage was found after landing.

Narrative: After a normal takeoff from Runway XXR at ZZZ; while climbing through ~15;000'; we had the REAR BAY OVERHEAT annunciator illuminate; with associated flashing Master Caution Lights. The annunciator extinguished quickly thereafter; then illuminated steadily again. I confirmed the annunciator with my First Officer; canceled the flashing caution lights and conducted the associated memory items followed by the appropriate Emergency Checklist. I then requested an immediate return to our departure airport for landing from Center; and we were given a descent. We were handed off to Approach Control who gave us a vector and cleared us for a visual approach to the runway of our choice. Upon their request; I gave Approach Control the nature of our problem; souls on board; and fuel state. They responded that they were 'rolling the gear'. By this time the annunciator had extinguished; it had only been illuminated for ~15-30 seconds total time. We were then handed off to Tower Control; who cleared us to land Runway. I ran the appropriate checklists; observed all systems and gauges were normal; First Officer lined up on centerline and performed a normal landing with no APU. We exited on the north high-speed; taxied clear of all taxiways; parked just adjacent to the fire equipment on the apron and performed a precautionary shutdown. Upon exiting the aircraft; we inspected the rear bay area; airframe; engines; etc.; and found no indications of fire; smoke; high temperatures or damage. I then called the assistant chief pilot on duty and relayed the incident to him; and we had the Hawker towed on a Lektro to the FBO. At no time during the short flight did we have any secondary indications of high temperatures in the rear bay; or abnormal indications in the cockpit. The total flight time was ~10 minutes.

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.