Narrative:

Our aircraft had been sitting at the gate; hooked up to the gpu and air hose; after successfully completing a functional test flight. The aircraft also had one MEL; the APU was inoperative; so we had to do an external air start at the gate. While taxiing to the runway; we performed a cross bleed start on the number one engine. Everything was normal during the taxi; beside the aircraft getting warm while using the bleed air to operate the air conditioning packs.we were in the takeoff roll; well past 80 KTS and approaching V1 when we received a call chime from the flight attendant. I was the pilot flying and decided to continue the takeoff; as we were within a few KTS of V1. While I was rotating the aircraft; we received a second call from the flight attendant using the cabin emergency call button. After raising the gear and configuring the aircraft; the first officer answered the call. She said; 'there's smoke in the cabin; down the floor aisle.' we immediately informed tower of the situation and that we would like to return. At the same time; the flight attendant called back saying she was seeing smoke coming out from along the aisle; down around where the emergency lights are. I asked her if it smelled like smoke; a burning smell; or an electrical smell. She went to investigate and then call us back.we were still on the SID and I had started to level off back down to 3;000 ft.the flight attendant called back and said that there is no smell at all; the smoke is like a mist; and it is cold air coming out. Tower at this time asked us if we would like to land on [runway] xxr or yyr. We informed the tower that we were still analyzing the problem; so he sent us to departure. We contacted departure and he had us fly heading 185 degrees and climb to 4;000 ft.the flight attendant called us to say that the smoke had gone away; but as soon as I added thrust to climb to 4;000 ft the smoke reappeared. I asked if there was any smell again and she said no; and [that] it was still cold air coming out. All this happened in a very short time frame. At this time we realized that it was not smoke; but condensation coming from the air conditioning packs. We had received no indications of anything abnormal in the cockpit; no EICAS messages; and all readings on the systems page of the mfd were normal. The cabin was warm and humid from the taxi out; so the temperature control was set to cold on the flight attendant control panel.at this point; departure asked us what we wanted to do. We talked about that if we returned we would have to perform an overweight landing; around 4;500 pounds overweight. We decided it was safe to continue the flight. Departure gave us a heading to rejoin the SID; which put us on a heading that we could return if need be.the flight attendant called us back to say the condensation was gone and had not returned. At no time while talking with tower or departure did we declare an emergency; only saying initially to the tower that we needed to return to the airport. That was before we had all the information about what was happening in the cabin. Only after evaluating the facts did we decide not to return.concentrating on planning a return overweight landing while running checklists; coordinating with ATC; and communicating with the flight attendant can lead to missed steps. I must continue to stay vigilant and not rush through things while also maintaining the safety of the aircraft; passengers; and crew. Also; [while] not dismissing the flight attendant's call; [I should] not be distracted by it during the critical phase of takeoff (especially near or at V1) until it is safe to answer. I never want to discourage anyone on the flight crew to inform me if there is a problem or safety issue.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An E145 flight crew continued their takeoff when the Flight Attendant called as they approached V1. After airborne the Attendant advised of 'smoke' coming from the floor of the cabin. The smoke eventually was determined to be condensation from the air conditioning system as it cooled the hot humid air. The flight continued to its destination when the condensation was identified and later abated.

Narrative: Our aircraft had been sitting at the gate; hooked up to the GPU and air hose; after successfully completing a functional test flight. The aircraft also had one MEL; the APU was inoperative; so we had to do an external air start at the gate. While taxiing to the runway; we performed a cross bleed start on the number one engine. Everything was normal during the taxi; beside the aircraft getting warm while using the bleed air to operate the air conditioning packs.We were in the takeoff roll; well past 80 KTS and approaching V1 when we received a call chime from the Flight Attendant. I was the pilot flying and decided to continue the takeoff; as we were within a few KTS of V1. While I was rotating the aircraft; we received a second call from the Flight Attendant using the cabin emergency call button. After raising the gear and configuring the aircraft; the First Officer answered the call. She said; 'There's smoke in the cabin; down the floor aisle.' We immediately informed Tower of the situation and that we would like to return. At the same time; the Flight Attendant called back saying she was seeing smoke coming out from along the aisle; down around where the emergency lights are. I asked her if it smelled like smoke; a burning smell; or an electrical smell. She went to investigate and then call us back.We were still on the SID and I had started to level off back down to 3;000 FT.The Flight Attendant called back and said that there is no smell at all; the smoke is like a mist; and it is cold air coming out. Tower at this time asked us if we would like to land on [Runway] XXR or YYR. We informed the Tower that we were still analyzing the problem; so he sent us to Departure. We contacted Departure and he had us fly heading 185 degrees and climb to 4;000 FT.The Flight Attendant called us to say that the smoke had gone away; but as soon as I added thrust to climb to 4;000 FT the smoke reappeared. I asked if there was any smell again and she said no; and [that] it was still cold air coming out. All this happened in a very short time frame. At this time we realized that it was not smoke; but condensation coming from the air conditioning packs. We had received no indications of anything abnormal in the cockpit; no EICAS messages; and all readings on the systems page of the MFD were normal. The cabin was warm and humid from the taxi out; so the temperature control was set to cold on the Flight Attendant control panel.At this point; Departure asked us what we wanted to do. We talked about that if we returned we would have to perform an overweight landing; around 4;500 LBS overweight. We decided it was safe to continue the flight. Departure gave us a heading to rejoin the SID; which put us on a heading that we could return if need be.The Flight Attendant called us back to say the condensation was gone and had not returned. At no time while talking with Tower or Departure did we declare an emergency; only saying initially to the Tower that we needed to return to the airport. That was before we had all the information about what was happening in the cabin. Only after evaluating the facts did we decide not to return.Concentrating on planning a return overweight landing while running checklists; coordinating with ATC; and communicating with the Flight Attendant can lead to missed steps. I must continue to stay vigilant and not rush through things while also maintaining the safety of the aircraft; passengers; and crew. Also; [while] not dismissing the Flight Attendant's call; [I should] not be distracted by it during the critical phase of takeoff (especially near or at V1) until it is safe to answer. I never want to discourage anyone on the flight crew to inform me if there is a problem or safety 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.