A dc-9-80 flight crew experienced lavatory fire warnings and possible faint smoke odors during taxi ...

Narrative:

We had to reposition the aircraft to a different gate. The APU was operating and we were taxing on the #2 engine. About five minutes after we began the taxi we heard the lavatory smoke alarm. The flight attendants reported that the rear left lavatory and the forward lavatory alarm lights were on and that they could smell a faint smoke odor and the cabin was slightly foggy due to smoke. The flight attendants checked both lavatories and no fire was detected and the alarms were reset. After about five minutes the smoke appeared to clear from the cabin and we elected to continue taxiing to the gate. We notified ATC and ATC notified the emergency crews. We notified the emergency crews that the smoke had dissipated and that we did not need there assistance. When we arrived at the gate we were met by maintenance and one fire truck. Maintenance is now troubleshooting the issue.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A DC-9-80 flight crew experienced lavatory fire warnings and possible faint smoke odors during taxi to reposition the aircraft.

Narrative: We had to reposition the aircraft to a different gate. The APU was operating and we were taxing on the #2 engine. About five minutes after we began the taxi we heard the lavatory smoke alarm. The flight attendants reported that the rear left lavatory and the forward lavatory alarm lights were on and that they could smell a faint smoke odor and the cabin was slightly foggy due to smoke. The flight attendants checked both lavatories and no fire was detected and the alarms were reset. After about five minutes the smoke appeared to clear from the cabin and we elected to continue taxiing to the gate. We notified ATC and ATC notified the emergency crews. We notified the emergency crews that the smoke had dissipated and that we did not need there assistance. When we arrived at the gate we were met by maintenance and one fire truck. Maintenance is now troubleshooting the issue.

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	917598
Time
Date	201011
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Dusk
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	MD-83
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Component
Aircraft Component	Toilet Smoke Overheat Fire Detectors & Warning
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor

A dc-9-80 flight crew experienced lavatory fire warnings and possible faint smoke odors during taxi to reposition the aircraft.