An air carrier crew declared an emergency while on approach after the purser reported an electrical ...

Narrative:

Approaching the airport the ride was approaching moderate chop so I called the flight attendants to have them be seated. When the purser picked up he informed me that there was an acrid smell like something electrical was smoldering. There were no obvious indications of fire or actual smoke in the cabin. The smell seemed to be isolated between rows 17 thru 20. I declared an emergency; told the flight attendants to review their evacuation procedure just in case but not to prepare the cabin; and notified dispatch via ACARS. We ran the smoke and fumes qrc checklist; including the additional items; and landed without incident. Upon landing the purser informed me the smell no longer was noticeable so we elected to have the fire department follow us to the gate and deplane normally. During the deplaning one passenger complained of difficulty breathing but declined paramedic help because she thought she knew what it was. I was later informed that once in the lobby she did request assistance and her status is unknown to me. The fire department found no evidence of fire during their post emergency inspection. I also was later informed that one of our passengers smelled the smell in flight but later thought he smelled it again in the lobby coming from his laptop computer. I informed maintenance of this and left.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An air carrier crew declared an emergency while on approach after the Purser reported an electrical smell in the cabin. After deplaning a passenger reported that his laptop computer was emitting electrical fumes in the airport lobby and may have been doing so in the aircraft.

Narrative: Approaching the airport the ride was approaching moderate chop so I called the flight attendants to have them be seated. When the Purser picked up he informed me that there was an acrid smell like something electrical was smoldering. There were no obvious indications of fire or actual smoke in the cabin. The smell seemed to be isolated between rows 17 thru 20. I declared an emergency; told the flight attendants to review their evacuation procedure just in case but not to prepare the cabin; and notified dispatch via ACARS. We ran the smoke and fumes QRC checklist; including the additional items; and landed without incident. Upon landing the purser informed me the smell no longer was noticeable so we elected to have the fire department follow us to the gate and deplane normally. During the deplaning one passenger complained of difficulty breathing but declined paramedic help because she thought she knew what it was. I was later informed that once in the lobby she did request assistance and her status is unknown to me. The fire department found no evidence of fire during their post emergency inspection. I also was later informed that one of our passengers smelled the smell in flight but later thought he smelled it again in the lobby coming from his laptop computer. I informed maintenance of this and left.

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.

Attributes
ACN	844270
Time
Date	200907
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-300
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 250 Flight Crew Total 17000 Flight Crew Type 5300
Person 2
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 80
Events
Anomaly	Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Passenger Electronic Device Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor

An air carrier crew declared an emergency while on approach after the purser reported an electrical smell in the cabin. After deplaning a passenger reported that his laptop computer was emitting electrical fumes in the airport lobby and may have been doing so in the aircraft.