Narrative:

This was a charter flight. The agent claimed that we had 90 wheelchair passengers on board the aircraft. It took longer than normal to get underway but we left the gate uneventfully. Just after we were airborne; there was a very strong odor in the cockpit that smelled like it was petroleum-based. We were cleaning up the aircraft and getting a frequency change and a climb to a higher altitude. I was getting ready to ask the captain what he thought of the smell. At that time; we received a chime from the cabin; signaling an emergency. They had the same fumes in the cabin but no visible smoke. They stated that it was stronger toward the aft portion of the cabin. At that time; the captain and I decided that we needed to get the aircraft back on the ground. We donned our oxygen masks and went about the getting back to the airport. I quickly ran the numbers for our weight and we determined that we could safely return despite being over max landing weight and having a wet runway. While I was on the radio trying to coordinate our return; the captain started on the QRH procedure. He had some difficulty finding the correct section due to the fact that we were not thinking about looking in the fire section because we just had fumes. The ATC frequency was very congested and it took a couple of minutes to get a word in with the controller. We declared an emergency and they vectored us back. Because the runway was wet; we decided that we were just going to stop the aircraft straight ahead on the runway. The fumes seemed to dissipate as we got closer to landing. We landed uneventfully and had the airport crash; fire and rescue crew check the aircraft on the runway. We then proceeded to the gate. We were very fortunate that we did not have to evacuate the aircraft. With 2/3 of the plane being full of wheelchair passengers and half of the remaining passengers being elderly;it would have been a big problem. These flights have escorts that go along on the trip but I am pretty sure that they have no training in how to handle an emergency on the aircraft. I think they are just along to help on the ground. They are outnumbered by at least a four to one margin. In an emergency; they would be completely overwhelmed. We had outstanding flight attendants on this flight but I am sure that they would not be able to handle the situation. It would be physically impossible.

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 flight crew experiences a strong petroleum smell shortly after takeoff and elects to to return for and overweight landing. The passengers include elderly and wheel chairs. The crew believes that had an evacuation been necessary it would have been problematic.

Narrative: This was a charter flight. The Agent claimed that we had 90 wheelchair passengers on board the aircraft. It took longer than normal to get underway but we left the gate uneventfully. Just after we were airborne; there was a very strong odor in the cockpit that smelled like it was petroleum-based. We were cleaning up the aircraft and getting a frequency change and a climb to a higher altitude. I was getting ready to ask the Captain what he thought of the smell. At that time; we received a chime from the cabin; signaling an emergency. They had the same fumes in the cabin but no visible smoke. They stated that it was stronger toward the aft portion of the cabin. At that time; the Captain and I decided that we needed to get the aircraft back on the ground. We donned our oxygen masks and went about the getting back to the airport. I quickly ran the numbers for our weight and we determined that we could safely return despite being over max landing weight and having a wet runway. While I was on the radio trying to coordinate our return; the Captain started on the QRH procedure. He had some difficulty finding the correct section due to the fact that we were not thinking about looking in the Fire section because we just had fumes. The ATC frequency was very congested and it took a couple of minutes to get a word in with the Controller. We declared an emergency and they vectored us back. Because the runway was wet; we decided that we were just going to stop the aircraft straight ahead on the runway. The fumes seemed to dissipate as we got closer to landing. We landed uneventfully and had the airport Crash; Fire and Rescue Crew check the aircraft on the runway. We then proceeded to the gate. We were very fortunate that we did not have to evacuate the aircraft. With 2/3 of the plane being full of wheelchair passengers and half of the remaining passengers being elderly;it would have been a big problem. These flights have escorts that go along on the trip but I am pretty sure that they have no training in how to handle an emergency on the aircraft. I think they are just along to help on the ground. They are outnumbered by at least a four to one margin. In an emergency; they would be completely overwhelmed. We had outstanding Flight Attendants on this flight but I am sure that they would not be able to handle the situation. It would be physically impossible.

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.