An EMB145 crew declared an emergency and returned to the departure airport after the flight attendan...

Narrative:

At approximately 5;500 ft; the flight attendant called the cockpit to tell us there was smoke in the cabin and that other passengers see it as well around rows 12-17. At this time we asked to level off at 7;000 ft and declared an emergency. The flight attendant said that the smoke had disappeared but we continued with the emergency landing back at our departure airport. We were cleared for the visual runway 28. Exited the runway and pulled into the pad for a visual inspection of the aircraft by the rescue team. They reported no outside issues to be noted and we continued to the gate; where we deplaned. It was an overweight landing by approximately 800 lbs.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An EMB145 crew declared an emergency and returned to the departure airport after the Flight Attendant reported cabin smoke during the climb after takeoff. The smoke's odor was described as rubber or electrical in nature.

Narrative: At approximately 5;500 FT; the Flight Attendant called the cockpit to tell us there was smoke in the cabin and that other passengers see it as well around rows 12-17. At this time we asked to level off at 7;000 FT and declared an emergency. The Flight Attendant said that the smoke had disappeared but we continued with the emergency landing back at our departure airport. We were cleared for the visual Runway 28. Exited the runway and pulled into the pad for a visual inspection of the aircraft by the rescue team. They reported no outside issues to be noted and we continued to the gate; where we deplaned. It was an overweight landing by approximately 800 lbs.

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	1026777
Time
Date	201207
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 145 ER/LR
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor

An EMB145 crew declared an emergency and returned to the departure airport after the flight attendant reported cabin smoke during the climb after takeoff. The smoke's odor was described as rubber or electrical in nature.