Narrative:

Our flight was from ZZZ-ZZZ1. As we were preflighting the airplane; the captain noted that from the maintenance log the aircraft had 2 'smoke toilet' caution messages the previous 2 days. We both discovered the recent rash of problems the crj-200s were having with these lavatory smoke issues; but didn't think that it would happen on our flight because the plane had just come out of maintenance and we didn't have to be deiced this morning. The flight was originally delayed because our flight wasn't going to make it for the flight. Our new flight attendant for the flight informed us on boarding that she had never worked on the crj-200 before. After she became familiar with the galley and layout of the airplane; we began to board. Preflight; and start-up were normal and we began taxiing out to runway 30L at ZZZ. On taxi; we encountered a problem with our passenger count not matching what load control had. We soon found out that this problem would be longer than anticipated; so we shut down the APU to conserve gas. After about 20 minutes; we had the problem with the passenger count taken care of and were ready for departure. The weather at ZZZ this day was cold and clear. The current ATIS reported a temperature of -26 degrees C; dewpoint of -31 degrees C. Winds were 270 degrees at 8 KTS. We were not deiced and the APU was not running for departure. I was performing the pilot not flying function for this flight. Takeoff was normal. At around 3;000 ft MSL; we received a 'caution' EICAS message of 'smoke toilet.' the captain asked for me to pull out my pom and called for the checklist for the caution message. As I was locating the checklist and the captain was talking on the radio to departure; the flight attendant chimed us to ask us about a 'condensation-like cloud' in the cabin. I informed her about the caution message we had; and asked her to go and check the lavatory on the plane to see if there was any smoke or odor in or around the bathroom. She came back and informed us that there was no odor of smoke and that the cloud was dissipating. After the flight attendant reported to me; I informed the captain of what was going on in the back of the plane. He informed me that he had declared an emergency with ATC and that we were being vectored for the ILS for runway 35 at ZZZ. As he was relaying information to approach about the status of the aircraft; I was having a hard time locating the proper emergency checklist because we had a yellow caution message on the EICAS; but the emergency checklist for a 'smoke toilet' is actually located under the red warning message. This was very distracting when we were short on time in the air. I ran the checklist. This eliminated the caution message. By this time; we were turning a 10 mile final for runway 35. I finished the descent and approach and landing checklist as we were intercepting the localizer. I talked to the captain about making an announcement to the passengers; and he told me to make a short announcement informing them that we were returning to ZZZ and would inform them more on the ground. I made the announcement; then called the flight attendant to tell her that we would be executing a normal landing; and that we would not be evacuating and that she should wait for our further commands once on the ground. The landing was normal; we taxied off of runway 35 and taxiway K and were met by arff. They checked for any smoke outside the aircraft; which there was none; then followed us to our gate. After we arrived at the gate and while the captain was talking to maintenance; I was talking to a couple firefighters in the jetway when a passenger in row X told them that he definitely smelled smoke; and actually thought his laptop was on fire because the cloud was thick by his feet. No other passengers made a comment like this. There was no smell of smoke on the carpet in row X. We then terminated the aircraft and left the gate. The aircraft had a history of this caution message 2 times in the prev

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A CRJ-200 EICAS alerted 'SMOKE TOILET' at 3;000 FT after takeoff. An emergency was declared with a return to land. The Flight Attendant reported a condensation like cloud that dissipated rapidly. This was the aircraft's third smoke event in three days.

Narrative: Our flight was from ZZZ-ZZZ1. As we were preflighting the airplane; the Captain noted that from the Maintenance Log the aircraft had 2 'Smoke Toilet' caution messages the previous 2 days. We both discovered the recent rash of problems the CRJ-200s were having with these lavatory smoke issues; but didn't think that it would happen on our flight because the plane had just come out of Maintenance and we didn't have to be deiced this morning. The flight was originally delayed because our flight wasn't going to make it for the flight. Our new Flight Attendant for the flight informed us on boarding that she had never worked on the CRJ-200 before. After she became familiar with the galley and layout of the airplane; we began to board. Preflight; and start-up were normal and we began taxiing out to Runway 30L at ZZZ. On taxi; we encountered a problem with our passenger count not matching what Load Control had. We soon found out that this problem would be longer than anticipated; so we shut down the APU to conserve gas. After about 20 minutes; we had the problem with the passenger count taken care of and were ready for departure. The weather at ZZZ this day was cold and clear. The current ATIS reported a temperature of -26 degrees C; dewpoint of -31 degrees C. Winds were 270 degrees at 8 KTS. We were not deiced and the APU was not running for departure. I was performing the Pilot Not Flying function for this flight. Takeoff was normal. At around 3;000 FT MSL; we received a 'Caution' EICAS message of 'Smoke Toilet.' The Captain asked for me to pull out my POM and called for the checklist for the caution message. As I was locating the checklist and the Captain was talking on the radio to Departure; the Flight Attendant chimed us to ask us about a 'condensation-like cloud' in the cabin. I informed her about the caution message we had; and asked her to go and check the lavatory on the plane to see if there was any smoke or odor in or around the bathroom. She came back and informed us that there was no odor of smoke and that the cloud was dissipating. After the Flight Attendant reported to me; I informed the Captain of what was going on in the back of the plane. He informed me that he had declared an emergency with ATC and that we were being vectored for the ILS for Runway 35 at ZZZ. As he was relaying information to Approach about the status of the aircraft; I was having a hard time locating the proper emergency checklist because we had a Yellow Caution message on the EICAS; but the emergency checklist for a 'Smoke Toilet' is actually located under the Red Warning message. This was very distracting when we were short on time in the air. I ran the checklist. This eliminated the caution message. By this time; we were turning a 10 mile final for Runway 35. I finished the descent and approach and landing checklist as we were intercepting the LOC. I talked to the Captain about making an announcement to the passengers; and he told me to make a short announcement informing them that we were returning to ZZZ and would inform them more on the ground. I made the announcement; then called the Flight Attendant to tell her that we would be executing a normal landing; and that we would not be evacuating and that she should wait for our further commands once on the ground. The landing was normal; we taxied off of Runway 35 and Taxiway K and were met by ARFF. They checked for any smoke outside the aircraft; which there was none; then followed us to our gate. After we arrived at the gate and while the Captain was talking to Maintenance; I was talking to a couple firefighters in the jetway when a passenger in Row X told them that he definitely smelled smoke; and actually thought his laptop was on fire because the cloud was thick by his feet. No other passengers made a comment like this. There was no smell of smoke on the carpet in Row X. We then terminated the aircraft and left the gate. The aircraft had a history of this caution message 2 times in the prev

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.