An R44 cabin heater was selected on and shortly thereafter an odor followed by smoke filled the cabi...

Attributes
ACN	979254
Time
Date	201111
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Robinson R44
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Aircraft Heating System
Person 1
Function	Instructor Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Flight Instructor
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 120 Flight Crew Total 450 Flight Crew Type 100
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor

Narrative:

My student and I had just departed to begin our IFR cross country flight. We established a climb at 70 KTS direct to the first VOR at about 1 1/2 miles out from the airport. The aircraft was vibrating more than usual at a 70 KT climb attitude. This did not raise any red flags at this time because the helicopter was fully loaded with fuel. I than turned on the heater because the cabin was cold. My student and I both made a comment that there was an unusual smell coming into the cabin. About 30 seconds later; what appeared to be smoke started coming into the cabin of the helicopter. I immediately turned the heater off; took the controls; and we opened the vents to clear the cabin out. I then turned the helicopter 180 degrees back to the airport to return for a landing. By shutting off the heater and turning around the smoke cleared out of the cabin. I contacted tower and requested to land on the numbers of 12 and back to base. Tower approved us as requested so we performed a normal approach; and taxied back to the FBO to have maintenance look at the helicopter.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An R44 cabin heater was selected ON and shortly thereafter an odor followed by smoke filled the cabin. The heater was selected OFF; the aircraft returned to the departure airport.

Narrative: My student and I had just departed to begin our IFR cross country flight. We established a climb at 70 KTS direct to the first VOR at about 1 1/2 miles out from the airport. The aircraft was vibrating more than usual at a 70 KT climb attitude. This did not raise any red flags at this time because the helicopter was fully loaded with fuel. I than turned on the heater because the cabin was cold. My student and I both made a comment that there was an unusual smell coming into the cabin. About 30 seconds later; what appeared to be smoke started coming into the cabin of the helicopter. I immediately turned the heater off; took the controls; and we opened the vents to clear the cabin out. I then turned the helicopter 180 degrees back to the airport to return for a landing. By shutting off the heater and turning around the smoke cleared out of the cabin. I contacted Tower and requested to land on the numbers of 12 and back to base. Tower approved us as requested so we performed a normal approach; and taxied back to the FBO to have maintenance look at the helicopter.

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.

An R44 cabin heater was selected on and shortly thereafter an odor followed by smoke filled the cabin. The heater was selected off; the aircraft returned to the departure airport.