37000 Feet

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Just prior to entering north atlantic airspace eastbound; the flight crew of a wide body transport was advised by the flight attendants of continuous lower lobe rest area smoke detector alerts throughout the cabin that could not be silenced. No signs of smoke or fire were evident. The flight returned to its departure airport after dumping fuel to get to maximum landing weight. The flight had been dispatched with the lower lobe fire protection deferred due to the inability to re-service the fire retardant following an earlier discharge for reasons not addressed by the reporter.

Narrative:

Aircraft was released by maintenance with deferred item for discharged fire extinguishing system in the lower lobe crew rest area. The station was unable to repair due to no parts in stock. The rest area and airflow to the area was secured and flight attendants were assigned rest seats in the cabin. At cruise altitude prior to coasting out the flight attendants called and reported messages on the cabin panels at 2L/3R/ and 4R that stated 'smoke detected'. In addition; the overhead red call lights and chimes at those cabin stations alerted continuously. There was no smoke evident anywhere in the cabin; lavs; or crew rest area. Coordination with maintenance control and dispatch was initiated. We were unable to reset the aural smoke alerts which were very loud and disturbing to the passengers. Continuing the flight with degraded smoke/fire protection in the lower lobe; combined with active indication of smoke detection made continuation of the flight untenable. We dumped 110;000# of fuel over water while returning to our departure airport where we landed uneventfully.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Just prior to entering North Atlantic airspace Eastbound; the Flight Crew of a wide body transport was advised by the Flight Attendants of continuous lower lobe rest area smoke detector alerts throughout the cabin that could not be silenced. No signs of smoke or fire were evident. The flight returned to its departure airport after dumping fuel to get to maximum landing weight. The flight had been dispatched with the lower lobe fire protection deferred due to the inability to re-service the fire retardant following an earlier discharge for reasons not addressed by the reporter.

Narrative: Aircraft was released by maintenance with deferred item for discharged fire extinguishing system in the lower lobe crew rest area. The station was unable to repair due to no parts in stock. The rest area and airflow to the area was secured and Flight Attendants were assigned rest seats in the cabin. At cruise altitude prior to coasting out the Flight Attendants called and reported messages on the cabin panels at 2L/3R/ and 4R that stated 'smoke detected'. In addition; the overhead red call lights and chimes at those cabin stations alerted continuously. There was no smoke evident anywhere in the cabin; lavs; or crew rest area. Coordination with Maintenance Control and Dispatch was initiated. We were unable to reset the aural smoke alerts which were very loud and disturbing to the passengers. Continuing the flight with degraded smoke/fire protection in the lower lobe; combined with active indication of smoke detection made continuation of the flight untenable. We dumped 110;000# of fuel over water while returning to our departure airport where we landed uneventfully.

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.