Upon receiving a tail comp high temperature warning light during climb; the flight crew of an MD83 d...

Narrative:

During climb; passing approximately 17;000 ft the tail comp high temperature light came on. We immediately performed the memory items; declared an emergency and asked for vectors back to the airport. The first officer was flying the airplane and talking on the radio with ATC while I finished the checklist and informed the flight attendants and gave them their situation briefing. The tail comp high temperature light extinguished approximately 2 minutes after we pulled the throttles back from climb power. I informed the passengers we would be returning. After I completed the checklist; I called dispatch and informed them of our emergency and that we would be returning. Approach control cleared us to the runway; where we landed uneventfully. After clearing the runway we stopped on the parallel taxiway and had the fire truck look us over to ensure no fires were occurring. We then taxied back to the gate and turned the aircraft over to maintenance.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Upon receiving a TAIL COMP HIGH TEMP warning light during climb; the flight crew of an MD83 declared an emergency and returned uneventfully to their departure airport.

Narrative: During climb; passing approximately 17;000 FT the TAIL COMP HIGH TEMP LIGHT came on. We immediately performed the memory items; declared an emergency and asked for vectors back to the airport. The First Officer was flying the airplane and talking on the radio with ATC while I finished the checklist and informed the Flight Attendants and gave them their situation briefing. The TAIL COMP HIGH TEMP LIGHT extinguished approximately 2 minutes after we pulled the throttles back from climb power. I informed the passengers we would be returning. After I completed the checklist; I called Dispatch and informed them of our emergency and that we would be returning. Approach Control cleared us to the runway; where we landed uneventfully. After clearing the runway we stopped on the parallel taxiway and had the fire truck look us over to ensure no fires were occurring. We then taxied back to the gate and turned the aircraft over to 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	952444
Time
Date	201106
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	MD-83
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Pneumatic Ducting
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Pilot Flying First Officer
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

Upon receiving a tail comp high temperature warning light during climb; the flight crew of an MD83 declared an emergency and returned uneventfully to their departure airport.