Flight crew flying EMB-145 aircraft reported smoke in the cabin during departure climb. Flight crew returned to departure airport and landed uneventfully.

ACN 2057354 2023-11 EMB ERJ 145 ER/LR Cabin Smoke, Fire, Fumes, or Odor Incidents

Initial ClimbPart 121

What is ASRS?

The Aviation Safety Reporting System is NASA's voluntary, confidential, non- punitive incident-reporting system, established 1976. Pilots, controllers, dispatchers, and maintenance technicians file reports describing safety- relevant events. NASA de-identifies every report before adding it to the public database. Reports are not investigated by NASA, the FAA, or the NTSB — they represent the reporter's perspective.

Pilot narratives

Verbatim from the de-identified NASA record. First-person account by the reporter. NASA strips identifying details (names, company, specific time); anonymization placeholders are ZZZ, X, Y.

Reporter 1

During the initial climb out after we raised the landing gear. The Flight Attendant called us and told us there was smoke rising from the floor boards in the center cabin. At this point we were below 1000 ft. AGL. We contacted departure and requested to return to the field immediately. We did not [request priority handling], air traffic control did it for us. The FO (First Officer) flew to airplane and I got set up for the return. I did the landing once we got set up. We landed over weight due to return to the field. It was a normal landing. The smoke stopped coming up through the floor boards on final approach. We landed and there was still no new smoke. We elected to return to the Gate to deplane passengers normal. The smoke had stopped coming up at this point for a few minutes. We returned to the Gate and deplaned the passengers.

Reporter 2

Immediately after we took off. I noticed smoke coming from the floor in the middle of the cabin. I notified the Captain and was instructed to give the passengers a briefing about our abnormal situation and the need to return to the airport. It was a normal landing and Passengers deplaned normally carrying their belonging.

Reporter 3

Flight Attendant called during our initial climb out below 1000 ft. to report smoke in the cabin coming from the floor boards below. Crew returned to field and did an overweight landing. FO [First Officer] was PF [Pilot Flyng] until final, CA [Captain] landed.

NASA classification — Anomalies

Aircraft Equipment Problem
Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural

NASA classification — Assessments

Contributing Factors / Situations: Aircraft
Primary Problem: Aircraft

ASRS reports are voluntarily submitted, de-identified by NASA, and represent the reporter's perspective. The presence of reports on a topic cannot be used to infer prevalence in the National Airspace System. The authoritative source is the NASA ASRS Database Online at asrs.arc.nasa.gov ↗.