An erj-170 flight crew declared and emergency and returned to their departure airport due to the pre...

Narrative:

During climb the captain and I heard a strange sound ending with a muffled pop/bang noise followed by an odor that smelled like overheating electrical equipment. The captain promptly stopped the climb at approximately 16;500 ft and advised ATC we needed to return to the airport and declared an emergency. The odor dissipated quickly and we did not receive any EICAS messages or observe any thing further. We discussed the situation and plan with the flight attendants; followed by an announcement to the passengers. Other than being over maximum landing weight we made a normal approach and landing. After we cleared the runway; we the stopped on the taxiway where we received a 'pack 1 fail' EICAS message. Airport crash fire rescue equipment did an exterior inspection and gave us an all clear and we taxied to the gate.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An ERJ-170 flight crew declared and emergency and returned to their departure airport due to the presence of overheated electrical system odors during the climb. After landing they received a 'PACK 1 FAIL' EICAS message.

Narrative: During climb the Captain and I heard a strange sound ending with a muffled pop/bang noise followed by an odor that smelled like overheating electrical equipment. The Captain promptly stopped the climb at approximately 16;500 FT and advised ATC we needed to return to the airport and declared an emergency. The odor dissipated quickly and we did not receive any EICAS messages or observe any thing further. We discussed the situation and plan with the flight attendants; followed by an announcement to the passengers. Other than being over maximum landing weight we made a normal approach and landing. After we cleared the runway; we the stopped on the taxiway where we received a 'PACK 1 FAIL' EICAS message. Airport CFR did an exterior inspection and gave us an all clear and we taxied to the gate.

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	981684
Time
Date	201111
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.TRACON
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	EMB ERJ 170/175 ER&LR
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Air Conditioning and Pressurization Pack
Person 1
Function	First Officer
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor

An erj-170 flight crew declared and emergency and returned to their departure airport due to the presence of overheated electrical system odors during the climb. After landing they received a 'pack 1 fail' EICAS message.