A B737-800 flight attendant reported a dirty socks odor after engine start and the odor even stronge...

Narrative:

Shortly before push; the 'a' flight attendant called and said there was the smell of dirty socks in the forward cabin. The captain went back to the cabin to investigate. When he returned; he said didn't smell anything and that he and the flight attendant agreed it was ok to go. On climb out below 10;000 ft; there was a faint musty odor which dissipated quickly as we climbed past 10;000 ft. The cruise portion of the flight was uneventful with no further complaints of the smell from the flight attendants. I used the lavatory several times during cruise and noticed no unusual smells at that time. On descent passing about 8;000 ft; we noticed the musty odor and it was stronger than we had on climb out. After landing the captain entered the descent in the maintenance logbook. Two of the flight attendants later complained of dry throats in the van on the way to the hotel.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737-800 Flight Attendant reported a dirty socks odor after engine start and the odor even stronger during descent for landing. The First Officer smelled it faintly during climb and stronger during descent. The APU was replaced.

Narrative: Shortly before push; the 'A' Flight Attendant called and said there was the smell of dirty socks in the forward cabin. The Captain went back to the cabin to investigate. When he returned; he said didn't smell anything and that he and the Flight Attendant agreed it was OK to go. On climb out below 10;000 FT; there was a faint musty odor which dissipated quickly as we climbed past 10;000 FT. The cruise portion of the flight was uneventful with no further complaints of the smell from the flight attendants. I used the lavatory several times during cruise and noticed no unusual smells at that time. On descent passing about 8;000 FT; we noticed the musty odor and it was stronger than we had on climb out. After landing the Captain entered the descent in the maintenance logbook. Two of the flight attendants later complained of dry throats in the van on the way to the hotel.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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	998856
Time
Date	201203
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-800
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Turbine Engine
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Person 2
Function	Flight Attendant (On Duty)
Qualification	Flight Attendant Current
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor

A B737-800 flight attendant reported a dirty socks odor after engine start and the odor even stronger during descent for landing. The first officer smelled it faintly during climb and stronger during descent. The APU was replaced.