Narrative:

The takeoff was normal up until passing through approximately 5;000 ft MSL. I asked the other pilots if they smelled something. I said it smells like an air conditioning pack having problems. The captain turned on the cockpit interior storm lights and the 3 of us looked around to make sure there wasn't smoke coming from anywhere. We noticed nothing unusual except for the odor which seemed to be stronger at times and less at others. The captain noted that it could be deice residue from an earlier deicing. We continued to climb out and the captain ran the odor checklist from his flight manual. During this checklist; the odor didn't seem to be affected by any pack isolation or any of the fans turned off. At this point; we either received a call from the back; or the captain asked for the other first officer to call back and check to see if there was anything noticeable from the flight attendants or passengers. They noted that they could smell something and some of the passengers had complained. The captain asked me to get dispatch on the satphone; which I did. I explained to the dispatcher that we were having aircraft issues and wanted a patch through to maintenance. The augmented first officer was cleared off and left the flight deck to go on break. I noted that we were about to coast out and asked the captain if we should hold or request vectors before losing radar contact. He noted that we had 14 minutes before we were to coast out and elected to keep going while talking to maintenance. At this point; we leveled off at FL350 and I logged us on to controller pilot data link communications. The odor seemed to be getting worse and I noted that my eyes were starting to burn. At this point or soon after; I donned the oxygen mask. We were about 10 minutes past the coast out fir when the captain elected to return to base. I sent a controller pilot data link communications message that we needed a re-route back to ZZZ. I waited a couple minutes and got onto the HF radios and told center we had an aircraft issue and needed to return to ZZZ. After another 5 minutes or so; they told us to make a right turn at FL350 and fly back to the entry point. I asked the captain if we needed to declare an emergency. He said he didn't think so. I called to have the first officer come back up to the flight deck. When the first officer returned to the flight deck; he noted that the odor was very strong on the flight deck. We received our reroute clearance and started to look at our options should the aircraft condition deteriorate. I took out the manual and noted that at our heavy weight; stopping would take a lot of runway. The other first officer noted that if we used maximum manual braking we could land at ZZZ1. I suggested that with the odor seeming to get worse that we should consider dumping fuel. The captain agreed and I pulled up the electronic checklist for fuel jettison and accomplished it. We received clearance to descend. At some point in the descent; the captain deployed the speed brakes and we had a full deflection of the rudder. I asked the captain if that was him (putting in and holding the rudder) and he said no. I looked at the rudder pedals and they were not deflected. The yaw bar indicated a full bar right of neutral. The captain momentarily advanced both engines and verified tht they seemed to be operating normal. After a minute or so the rudder deflection decreased to 1/2 a bar and then after 20 seconds after that the yaw returned to normal. When the captain stowed the speed brakes; the rudder input occurred again but to a lesser degree. We were at a slower speed than at the first deflection. We flew to ZZZ and had an uneventful landing. At about 15 minutes out; ATC advised us that the company had declared an emergency. The odor seemed less as we passed through 10;000 ft MSL. As the aircraft cleared the runway; we were delayed as the emergency vehicles surrounded us. After a 10 minute delay we taxied back to the gate. We started the APU and shut down. Maintenance noted a faint smell when they came on the aircraft. Supplemental information from acn 816825: maintenance speculated that the smell was from oil and that the aircraft may have been overfilled. Callback conversation with reporter revealed the following information: the analyst contacted the reporter who was unable to provide any additional information regarding any maintenance analysis of the uncommanded rudder inputs. He did advise the deflection was the equivalent of 'one ball width' out of trim on the pfd yaw indicator; not a full scale deflection. His view of the rudder pedals showed no displacement.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B777 flight crew returns to departure airport due to acrid odors emanating from the Air Conditioning System. Experience rudder anomalies associated with speed brake extension and retraction during descent.

Narrative: The takeoff was normal up until passing through approximately 5;000 FT MSL. I asked the other pilots if they smelled something. I said it smells like an air conditioning pack having problems. The Captain turned on the cockpit interior storm lights and the 3 of us looked around to make sure there wasn't smoke coming from anywhere. We noticed nothing unusual except for the odor which seemed to be stronger at times and less at others. The Captain noted that it could be deice residue from an earlier deicing. We continued to climb out and the Captain ran the odor checklist from his flight manual. During this checklist; the odor didn't seem to be affected by any pack isolation or any of the fans turned off. At this point; we either received a call from the back; or the Captain asked for the other First Officer to call back and check to see if there was anything noticeable from the Flight Attendants or passengers. They noted that they could smell something and some of the passengers had complained. The Captain asked me to get Dispatch on the SATPHONE; which I did. I explained to the Dispatcher that we were having aircraft issues and wanted a patch through to Maintenance. The augmented First Officer was cleared off and left the flight deck to go on break. I noted that we were about to coast out and asked the Captain if we should hold or request vectors before losing radar contact. He noted that we had 14 minutes before we were to coast out and elected to keep going while talking to Maintenance. At this point; we leveled off at FL350 and I logged us on to Controller Pilot Data Link Communications. The odor seemed to be getting worse and I noted that my eyes were starting to burn. At this point or soon after; I donned the oxygen mask. We were about 10 minutes past the coast out FIR when the Captain elected to return to base. I sent a Controller Pilot Data Link Communications message that we needed a re-route back to ZZZ. I waited a couple minutes and got onto the HF radios and told Center we had an aircraft issue and needed to return to ZZZ. After another 5 minutes or so; they told us to make a right turn at FL350 and fly back to the entry point. I asked the Captain if we needed to declare an emergency. He said he didn't think so. I called to have the First Officer come back up to the flight deck. When the First Officer returned to the flight deck; he noted that the odor was very strong on the flight deck. We received our reroute clearance and started to look at our options should the aircraft condition deteriorate. I took out the manual and noted that at our heavy weight; stopping would take a lot of runway. The other First Officer noted that if we used maximum manual braking we could land at ZZZ1. I suggested that with the odor seeming to get worse that we should consider dumping fuel. The Captain agreed and I pulled up the electronic checklist for Fuel Jettison and accomplished it. We received clearance to descend. At some point in the descent; the Captain deployed the speed brakes and we had a full deflection of the rudder. I asked the Captain if that was him (putting in and holding the rudder) and he said no. I looked at the rudder pedals and they were not deflected. The yaw bar indicated a full bar right of neutral. The Captain momentarily advanced both engines and verified tht they seemed to be operating normal. After a minute or so the rudder deflection decreased to 1/2 a bar and then after 20 seconds after that the yaw returned to normal. When the Captain stowed the speed brakes; the rudder input occurred again but to a lesser degree. We were at a slower speed than at the first deflection. We flew to ZZZ and had an uneventful landing. At about 15 minutes out; ATC advised us that the company had declared an emergency. The odor seemed less as we passed through 10;000 FT MSL. As the aircraft cleared the runway; we were delayed as the emergency vehicles surrounded us. After a 10 minute delay we taxied back to the gate. We started the APU and shut down. Maintenance noted a faint smell when they came on the aircraft. Supplemental information from ACN 816825: Maintenance speculated that the smell was from oil and that the aircraft may have been overfilled. Callback Conversation with Reporter Revealed the following information: The analyst contacted the Reporter who was unable to provide any additional information regarding any Maintenance analysis of the uncommanded rudder inputs. He did advise the deflection was the equivalent of 'one ball width' out of trim on the PFD yaw indicator; not a full scale deflection. His view of the rudder pedals showed no displacement.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of May 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.