CRJ700 flight crew has smoke/sparks in cockpit during climb.

Attributes
ACN	729731
Time
Date	200703
Local Time Of Day	1801 To 2400
Place
Locale Reference	airport : clt.airport
State Reference	NC
Altitude	msl single value : 13500
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Controlling Facilities	artcc : ztl.artcc
Operator	common carrier : air carrier
Make Model Name	Regional Jet 700 ER&LR
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	climbout : intermediate altitude
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Affiliation	company : air carrier
Function	flight crew : first officer
Qualification	pilot : commercial
ASRS Report	729731
Person 2
Affiliation	company : air carrier
Function	flight crew : captain oversight : pic
Events
Anomaly	other anomaly
Independent Detector	other flight crewa other flight crewb
Resolutory Action	flight crew : landed as precaution flight crew : diverted to another airport
Supplementary
Problem Areas	Aircraft
Primary Problem	Aircraft

Narrative:

When climbing out of charlotte on the way to ZZZ climbing through 13000 ft to 14000 ft the captain adjusted his flood light in the map panel started smoking and sparking started shooting out of it. The circuit breaker popped; call maintenance and we returned to clt. I took over the duty of flying pilot the captain contacted maintenance control.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CRJ700 FLT CREW HAS SMOKE/SPARKS IN COCKPIT DURING CLB.

Narrative: WHEN CLIMBING OUT OF CHARLOTTE ON THE WAY TO ZZZ CLIMBING THROUGH 13000 FT TO 14000 FT THE CAPT ADJUSTED HIS FLOOD LIGHT IN THE MAP PANEL STARTED SMOKING AND SPARKING STARTED SHOOTING OUT OF IT. THE CIRCUIT BREAKER POPPED; CALL MAINT AND WE RETURNED TO CLT. I TOOK OVER THE DUTY OF FLYING PILOT THE CAPTAIN CONTACTED MAINT CTL.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of January 2009 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.