Narrative:

On short final; we were able to hear the flight attendant passenger call button go off. Shortly thereafter the flight attendant called the flight deck. I answered the flight attendant's call (I was first officer and pilot flying). The flight attendant attempted to tell me twice what the problem was; but I had to turn the intercom volume up to full in order to hear him. On his third attempt he stated that the passenger at seats 10 a and B were reporting smoke in the cabin. I asked him if there was smoke and he said yes and it was making its way up the aisle. Since we were so close to landing; I told him ok; we will be on the ground in minutes. I then informed the captain of the situation; we immediately declared an emergency; and when asked; had tower roll the emergency trucks. We turned the packs off; the captain landed the aircraft and pulled off onto the first high speed available to us. At that time we called the flight attendant to find out the status of the cabin. The flight attendant reported that the smoke had stopped and had disappeared. We proceeded to taxi to the gate; but at the fire marshal's request; we stopped the aircraft and allowed them to board and access the situation. Once they were sure that we were ok; we proceeded to the gate with a fire escort. During deplaning; a nonrev/deadhead flight attendant who had been on board told me that she had seen the 'smoke' on takeoff and thought that it had been condensation from the air conditioning then and during landing. Also; we had taken off with the APU running and packs on the APU due to the hot temperatures that day. Shortly before the passenger notifying the flight attendant of smoke; we had started the APU and swapped the packs to it over for landing. Maintenance personnel were notified and inspected the aircraft; APU; packs and engines and could find nothing wrong. They signed the aircraft back into service. This led us to believe that it was in flight attendant condensation from the air conditioner. Also; on our next flight; the flight attendant informed us after landing that he had received further complaints from the new passenger. After the aisle cleared of deplaning passenger I could see what looked like fog 'rolling' down the aisle. This was inflight condensation. There was just an unusual amount being produced such that it looked like a fog machine on a stage. At no time did anyone report any unusual smells. Also; the aircraft behind us was instructed to discontinue their approach and go missed by the tower. Aircraft produced unusual amount of condensation; such that it looked like smoke in the aisles. Flight attendant was new - he has only been with the company for one month and had not yet seen condensation in the aircraft. However; he did make the best call to inform us of the situation so we could have fire personnel meet the aircraft. Emergency declared; packs turned off; landed aircraft; met by emergency personnel.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An inexperienced Flight Attendant reported smoke rolling down the cabin during approach. An emergency was declared but the smoke was later determined to be air conditioning condensation.

Narrative: On short final; we were able to hear the Flight Attendant Passenger call button go off. Shortly thereafter the Flight Attendant called the flight deck. I answered the Flight Attendant's call (I was First Officer and Pilot Flying). The Flight Attendant attempted to tell me twice what the problem was; but I had to turn the intercom volume up to full in order to hear him. On his third attempt he stated that the passenger at seats 10 A and B were reporting smoke in the cabin. I asked him if there was smoke and he said yes and it was making its way up the aisle. Since we were so close to landing; I told him ok; we will be on the ground in minutes. I then informed the Captain of the situation; we immediately declared an emergency; and when asked; had Tower roll the emergency trucks. We turned the packs off; the Captain landed the aircraft and pulled off onto the first high speed available to us. At that time we called the Flight Attendant to find out the status of the cabin. The Flight Attendant reported that the smoke had stopped and had disappeared. We proceeded to taxi to the gate; but at the Fire Marshal's request; we stopped the aircraft and allowed them to board and access the situation. Once they were sure that we were ok; we proceeded to the gate with a fire escort. During deplaning; a nonrev/deadhead Flight Attendant who had been on board told me that she had seen the 'smoke' on takeoff and thought that it had been condensation from the air conditioning then and during landing. Also; we had taken off with the APU running and Packs on the APU due to the hot temperatures that day. Shortly before the passenger notifying the Flight Attendant of smoke; we had started the APU and swapped the Packs to it over for landing. Maintenance personnel were notified and inspected the aircraft; APU; Packs and engines and could find nothing wrong. They signed the aircraft back into service. This led us to believe that it was in Flight Attendant condensation from the air conditioner. Also; on our next flight; the Flight Attendant informed us after landing that he had received further complaints from the new passenger. After the aisle cleared of deplaning passenger I could see what looked like fog 'rolling' down the aisle. This was inflight condensation. There was just an unusual amount being produced such that it looked like a fog machine on a stage. At no time did anyone report any unusual smells. Also; the aircraft behind us was instructed to discontinue their approach and go missed by the Tower. Aircraft produced unusual amount of condensation; such that it looked like smoke in the aisles. Flight Attendant was new - he has only been with the company for one month and had not yet seen condensation in the aircraft. However; he did make the best call to inform us of the situation so we could have fire personnel meet the aircraft. Emergency declared; packs turned off; landed aircraft; met by emergency personnel.

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.