Narrative:

At cruise the flight attendants called to report a smell of something hot. No smoke; just a smell of something hot in middle of aircraft; like wires overheating. Passengers also smelled this. The first officer took control and I went back in the cabin and immediately smelled an odor which I recognized as overheated entertainment equipment. I had this same event occur several years ago while parked at the gate. I told cabin crew I was going to turn off the television system and to advise me if odor decreased or they saw any smoke/fire. I advised them we would be diverting to an airport which was 10-15 minutes in front of us. We ran the emergency smoke checklist memory items and held there when they called and said the odor immediately decreased and the cabin was returning to normal. I felt 99% confident we had isolated the problem. We; nonetheless; requested a diversion and an immediate descent for an approach. We then contacted dispatch; operations; talked to passengers; set up for and briefed the approach. We landed uneventfully less than 15 minutes after the situation was first called to our attention. No emergency was declared with ATC. Maintenance was called out and confirmed an overheat malfunction of the entertainment system. They deferred it and we continued on uneventfully. I believe that the power boxes for entertainment service placed under the seats are being damaged with luggage that is jammed in under the seats. I have found several instances of the protective covers coming off and even the wires outside the protective boxes. We have not had a big problem with these systems overheating; yet it does occur.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: When the flight attendants reported electrical odors in the cabin of the A319 the flight crew determined the source to be an overheating cabin entertainment system. They diverted to a nearby station for inspection and deferral of the system and then completed the journey to their original destination.

Narrative: At cruise the flight attendants called to report a smell of something hot. No smoke; just a smell of something hot in middle of aircraft; like wires overheating. Passengers also smelled this. The First Officer took control and I went back in the cabin and immediately smelled an odor which I recognized as overheated entertainment equipment. I had this same event occur several years ago while parked at the gate. I told cabin crew I was going to turn off the television system and to advise me if odor decreased or they saw any smoke/fire. I advised them we would be diverting to an airport which was 10-15 minutes in front of us. We ran the emergency smoke checklist memory items and held there when they called and said the odor immediately decreased and the cabin was returning to normal. I felt 99% confident we had isolated the problem. We; nonetheless; requested a diversion and an immediate descent for an approach. We then contacted Dispatch; Operations; talked to passengers; set up for and briefed the approach. We landed uneventfully less than 15 minutes after the situation was first called to our attention. No emergency was declared with ATC. Maintenance was called out and confirmed an overheat malfunction of the entertainment system. They deferred it and we continued on uneventfully. I believe that the power boxes for entertainment service placed under the seats are being damaged with luggage that is jammed in under the seats. I have found several instances of the protective covers coming off and even the wires outside the protective boxes. We have not had a big problem with these systems overheating; yet it does occur.

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.