Narrative:

After dropping off the aircraft owner and in consideration of conditions; (clear with light wind from the south) and aircraft weight; I elected to use approach flaps for my departure. The takeoff was normal and at 1;000' AGL I retracted the flaps and turned to my target heading. Clearing the area I contacted center and picked up a discreet transponder code for the flight back to home base. As the aircraft passed 12;000 ft I detected a smell; which I believed to be electrical in nature. The smell increased until at approximately 13;000 ft I also detected smoke in the cockpit. With the indication of smoke I reduced power to idle and lowered the nose of the aircraft to achieve 200 KTS. I also turned back toward my departure airport; which became visible as I turned. I contacted center using the call; pan pan pan; and my call sign. I described my situation and my plan to return. I also asked them to contact operations and dispatch fire equipment if it was available. During this time I didn't feel the need to don the oxygen mask but I did perform a check of the mask for flow; and held it on my lap. At 10;000 ft in the decent I dumped the cabin pressurization; shut off the bleed air and unstowed the fire extinguisher. I attempted a call to ZZZ operation on the unicom frequency; but I was unsuccessful; so I asked center to coordinate for me. When I had left a few minutes before there had been aircraft in the pattern so I preferred not to kill the electrical master before I announced my intention to those aircraft or at least briefed operations so they could warn traffic. Although I was unable to speak to operations I had succeeded in clearing the smoke and owning to the fact of being within a minute of landing; and since the aircraft has electric landing gear; I elected not to kill the master. On a wide base I made the call to area traffic of my difficulty.during the decent I had also noticed that the flap position indicator was beyond the 'full up' position; which was consistent with the failure of the micro switch that controls the flap motor to prevent it's having power when the flaps are all the way up. I had experienced a similar failure in a king air years before; and it had also caused the cabin to fill with electrical smoke; so I pulled the 20 amp circuit breaker for the flap motor and made the landing without flaps. The landing was normal and I was met by local fire trucks. I shut down the aircraft and checked it for obvious fire or smoke as I discussed the situation with the firemen. A visual inspection disclosed that the inboard section of the right flap segment was retracted against the stops. This segment is the 'master segment' which has the micro switch that prevents flap over travel. The specification for this segment is that there should be at least 1/2' of free play between the flap and the mechanical up-stop; and is checked during preflight. Again; this condition of the flap not having free travel was consistent with a failure of the up switch and an overheating of the flap motor; leading to out-gassing.I contacted the owner and briefed him first. Then I contacted the director of maintenance and he walked me through a series of steps to verify that the assumed failure was; in fact; the flap motor overheating. He agreed with me that the aircraft could be flown safely; if the flap circuit breakers were pulled and the flaps were not used. Owing to the remoteness of the airport; the lack of maintenance people experienced with the king air; the confidence by the technician who maintains the aircraft that the situation had been assessed and understood; I made the decision to ferry the aircraft back to its base. The flight was made without passengers; under part 91; in day VFR conditions. No recurrence of the smoke was experienced and the aircraft was parked; awaiting maintenance.I realized at dinner that night that I should have contacted the FAA and obtained a ferry permit. Other than that I believe the decisionto return the aircraft was proper and safe. While a permit was not issued the conditions under which a permit would have been issued were met.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: King Air pilot experienced electrical fumes climbing through 12000 FT and turned back to departure airport suspecting a flap motor failure; flaps were not used for landing. After discussions with the Director of Maintenance the aircraft was ferried to home base with the flap motor circuit breakers pulled.

Narrative: After dropping off the aircraft owner and in consideration of conditions; (clear with light wind from the South) and aircraft weight; I elected to use approach flaps for my departure. The takeoff was normal and at 1;000' AGL I retracted the flaps and turned to my target heading. Clearing the area I contacted Center and picked up a discreet transponder code for the flight back to home base. As the aircraft passed 12;000 FT I detected a smell; which I believed to be electrical in nature. The smell increased until at approximately 13;000 FT I also detected smoke in the cockpit. With the indication of smoke I reduced power to idle and lowered the nose of the aircraft to achieve 200 KTS. I also turned back toward my departure airport; which became visible as I turned. I contacted Center using the call; Pan Pan Pan; and my call sign. I described my situation and my plan to return. I also asked them to contact Operations and dispatch fire equipment if it was available. During this time I didn't feel the need to don the oxygen mask but I did perform a check of the mask for flow; and held it on my lap. At 10;000 FT in the decent I dumped the cabin pressurization; shut off the bleed air and unstowed the fire extinguisher. I attempted a call to ZZZ Operation on the UNICOM frequency; but I was unsuccessful; so I asked Center to coordinate for me. When I had left a few minutes before there had been aircraft in the pattern so I preferred not to kill the electrical master before I announced my intention to those aircraft or at least briefed Operations so they could warn traffic. Although I was unable to speak to Operations I had succeeded in clearing the smoke and owning to the fact of being within a minute of landing; and since the aircraft has electric landing gear; I elected not to kill the master. On a wide base I made the call to area traffic of my difficulty.During the decent I had also noticed that the flap position indicator was beyond the 'full up' position; which was consistent with the failure of the micro switch that controls the flap motor to prevent it's having power when the flaps are all the way up. I had experienced a similar failure in a King Air years before; and it had also caused the cabin to fill with electrical smoke; so I pulled the 20 AMP circuit breaker for the flap motor and made the landing without flaps. The landing was normal and I was met by local fire trucks. I shut down the aircraft and checked it for obvious fire or smoke as I discussed the situation with the firemen. A visual inspection disclosed that the inboard section of the right flap segment was retracted against the stops. This segment is the 'master segment' which has the micro switch that prevents flap over travel. The specification for this segment is that there should be at least 1/2' of free play between the flap and the mechanical up-stop; and is checked during preflight. Again; this condition of the flap not having free travel was consistent with a failure of the up switch and an overheating of the flap motor; leading to out-gassing.I contacted the owner and briefed him first. Then I contacted the Director of Maintenance and he walked me through a series of steps to verify that the assumed failure was; in fact; the flap motor overheating. He agreed with me that the aircraft could be flown safely; if the flap circuit breakers were pulled and the flaps were not used. Owing to the remoteness of the airport; the lack of maintenance people experienced with the King air; the confidence by the technician who maintains the aircraft that the situation had been assessed and understood; I made the decision to ferry the aircraft back to its base. The flight was made without passengers; under part 91; in day VFR conditions. No recurrence of the smoke was experienced and the aircraft was parked; awaiting maintenance.I realized at dinner that night that I should have contacted the FAA and obtained a ferry permit. Other than that I believe the decisionto return the aircraft was proper and safe. While a permit was not issued the conditions under which a permit would have been issued were met.

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.