An air carrier crew reported diverting to an enroute oceanic airport after flight attendants reporte...

Narrative:

Two hundred miles from the nearest suitable airport we received calls from numerous flight attendants of light smoke and fumes in the cabin. We were already radar contact with oceanic control so confirmed landing conditions at the airport and eventually received clearance direct; dumped approx 25K fuel during descent and landed overweight at 495K. Smoke was nonexistent during last portion of flight; so continued to remote parking after fire chief saw no external indications of smoke or fire. First debrief with flight attendants was conflicted regarding source and smell of smoke so it took some time for maintenance and fire chief to resolve. Last likely source was a hot ventilation fan in the bulk cargo compartment. Slow trouble shooting; repositioning aircraft; fuel out of limits (over 3.0 in center tank); later status message engine rt rev which was difficult to resolve led to inability to depart. Recovering coordination seemed lacking with numerous sources bombarding us with request for information vs. A centralized system with limited access. It's quite possible we might have been able to get out tonight; vs. Overnighting; if there had been better coordination exercising a forward looking recovery plan. Note for all: (dispatch; maintenance; flight operations; inflight) pilots coordinating with dispatch; ATC; and numerous flight attendants while wearing smoke masks and preparing for a relatively quick emergency arrival cannot be appreciated until you try it for real.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An Air Carrier crew reported diverting to an enroute oceanic airport after Flight Attendants reported light smoke in the cabin. A bulk cargo vent fan was the suspected smoke source.

Narrative: Two hundred miles from the nearest suitable airport we received calls from numerous flight attendants of light smoke and fumes in the cabin. We were already radar contact with Oceanic Control so confirmed landing conditions at the airport and eventually received clearance direct; dumped approx 25K fuel during descent and landed overweight at 495K. Smoke was nonexistent during last portion of flight; so continued to remote parking after Fire Chief saw no external indications of smoke or fire. First debrief with flight attendants was conflicted regarding source and smell of smoke so it took some time for maintenance and Fire Chief to resolve. Last likely source was a hot ventilation fan in the bulk cargo compartment. Slow trouble shooting; repositioning aircraft; fuel out of limits (over 3.0 in center tank); later status message ENG RT REV which was difficult to resolve led to inability to depart. Recovering coordination seemed lacking with numerous sources bombarding us with request for information vs. a centralized system with limited access. It's quite possible we MIGHT have been able to get out tonight; vs. overnighting; if there had been better coordination exercising a forward looking recovery plan. NOTE for all: (Dispatch; Maintenance; Flight Operations; Inflight) pilots coordinating with Dispatch; ATC; and numerous flight attendants while wearing smoke masks and preparing for a relatively quick emergency arrival cannot be appreciated until you try it for real.

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	914086
Time
Date	201010
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	FO
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	Oceanic
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Aircraft Cooling System
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 200 Flight Crew Total 6000 Flight Crew Type 3000
Person 2
Function	Captain Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 200 Flight Crew Total 16000 Flight Crew Type 3000
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor

An air carrier crew reported diverting to an enroute oceanic airport after flight attendants reported light smoke in the cabin. A bulk cargo vent fan was the suspected smoke source.