An ERJ170 captain reported that on the first takeoff of the day a burning smell occurred in the cabi...

Narrative:

The aircraft had undergone an engine wash at night. We were first flight after that. On takeoff there was a burning smell in the cabin similar to a furnace that hadn't been used in a while. Flight attendant called us after takeoff to notify us. There was no smoke and the smell was subsiding; so we continued our climb. First officer was aware that sometimes an engine wash causes that smell so we leaned in that direction. I contacted maintenance through commercial radio and received confirmation of the common smell in the cabin after engine wash and the fact that there was indeed a wash done. With the smell gone we continued to destination. Maintenance told me the burning smell was common after a wash and apparently we have had some aircraft abort takeoff because of it. Perhaps maintenance procedures should be revised to purge the aircraft of the chemicals more thoroughly to prevent having to make the abort/return to field decision in the future. A memo to the pilots about the commonality of this occurrence may also be useful.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An ERJ170 Captain reported that on the first takeoff of the day a burning smell occurred in the cabin. The crew was later told the engines had under gone a wash that night and the smell was residual wash chemical.

Narrative: The aircraft had undergone an engine wash at night. We were first flight after that. On takeoff there was a burning smell in the cabin similar to a furnace that hadn't been used in a while. Flight Attendant called us after takeoff to notify us. There was no smoke and the smell was subsiding; so we continued our climb. First Officer was aware that sometimes an engine wash causes that smell so we leaned in that direction. I contacted Maintenance through Commercial Radio and received confirmation of the common smell in the cabin after engine wash and the fact that there was indeed a wash done. With the smell gone we continued to destination. Maintenance told me the burning smell was common after a wash and apparently we have had some aircraft abort takeoff because of it. Perhaps maintenance procedures should be revised to purge the aircraft of the chemicals more thoroughly to prevent having to make the abort/return to field decision in the future. A memo to the pilots about the commonality of this occurrence may also be useful.

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	917140
Time
Date	201011
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	EMB ERJ 170/175 ER&LR
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Takeoff
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Maintenance Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor

An ERJ170 captain reported that on the first takeoff of the day a burning smell occurred in the cabin. The crew was later told the engines had under gone a wash that night and the smell was residual wash chemical.