MD80 first officer is informed shortly after takeoff; of a burning smell in the cabin by the flight ...

Narrative:

Four minutes after takeoff the flight attendants reported a burning smell but did not see smoke. The smell got stronger over a two minute period. We could smell it in the cockpit but it was not very strong. We coordinated to level off at 12;000 feet for a quick analysis and then requested a return. We declared an emergency; accomplished the appropriate emergency checklists for smoke and fumes and overweight landing; then the captain briefed the flight attendants and passengers. We landed overweight at 141;000 pounds with a touchdown at 200 FPM or less. We used light braking and stopped straight ahead. Crash fire rescue equipment saw no problems visually or on thermal imaging and cleared us to taxi to the gate. At the gate they applied chocks and fans and brake temps never exceeded 200 degrees C. The agents and supervisors that met us deplaned the passengers and helped make new arrangements since this flight was to be canceled. The captain filled out the logbook. One maintenance technician stopped by for a brief look at a couple of items. After confirming with crash; fire; rescue that the brakes and tires were cooling and looked safe we shut the aircraft down for the night and left it for maintenance.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: MD80 First Officer is informed shortly after takeoff; of a burning smell in the cabin by the flight attendants. An emergency is declared and after completing emergency checklists; the flight returns to the departure airport for an over weight landing.

Narrative: Four minutes after takeoff the flight attendants reported a burning smell but did not see smoke. The smell got stronger over a two minute period. We could smell it in the cockpit but it was not very strong. We coordinated to level off at 12;000 feet for a quick analysis and then requested a return. We declared an emergency; accomplished the appropriate emergency checklists for smoke and fumes and overweight landing; then the Captain briefed the flight attendants and passengers. We landed overweight at 141;000 LBS with a touchdown at 200 FPM or less. We used light braking and stopped straight ahead. CFR saw no problems visually or on thermal imaging and cleared us to taxi to the gate. At the gate they applied chocks and fans and brake temps never exceeded 200 degrees C. The agents and supervisors that met us deplaned the passengers and helped make new arrangements since this flight was to be canceled. The Captain filled out the logbook. One Maintenance Technician stopped by for a brief look at a couple of items. After confirming with crash; fire; rescue that the brakes and tires were cooling and looked safe we shut the aircraft down for the night and left it for maintenance.

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	950047
Time
Date	201105
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.TRACON
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	MD-80 Series (DC-9-80) Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Electrical Wiring & Connectors
Person 1
Function	First Officer
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor

MD80 first officer is informed shortly after takeoff; of a burning smell in the cabin by the flight attendants. An emergency is declared and after completing emergency checklists; the flight returns to the departure airport for an over weight landing.