B767-300 flight crew reported a strong electrical smell on initial climb resulting in a return to departure airport.
Synopsis
B767-300 flight crew reported a strong electrical smell on initial climb resulting in a return to departure airport.
Narrative
Electrical fumes. While climbing out of ZZZ enroute to ZZZ1 the First Officer and I detected the strong odor of an electrical fire; or acrid burning plastic. It became strong rather quickly. I was PNF and jumped to the back to check the galley area and cargo compartment. There was no odor detected there; but when I came back out the cargo compartment to the cockpit the smell was stronger and obviously electrical. I did not see any smoke; vapor or stratified particles. It seemed to be coming from the center console and was stronger on the FO's side of the cockpit. We discussed it briefly and decided to return to ZZZ. We notified ATC; leveled off at FL300 and were vectored back to ZZZ. We donned our oxygen masks; and I completed the smoke; fire or fumes procedure in the QRH. Selecting the equipment cooling selector to standby; swapping packs and dropping the utility busses made no change. I dimmed all the cockpit rheostats etc.; no change. From that point I stopped troubleshooting and focused on communication and the arrival. We received priority handling from ATC. I took control of the aircraft for the overweight landing (5;000 pounds over Maximum Landing Gross Weight (MLGW)) . The approach and landing were normal to XXL. We exited the runway and spoke to the Airport Rescue and Firefighting (ARFF) on the radio. They did a visual inspection of the aircraft and followed us to the ramp. Inspected the aircraft for heat; had maintenance open components of the center console. One responder had a FLIR gun that seemed to detect more heat beneath the transponder head; but the mechanic didn't feel anything unusual when he slid his hand down there. ARFF released the aircraft; and we returned to ops. Upon writing this report I realized I did not write up the overweight landing.Suggestions on how to correct the reported concern? Full face smoke masks would be a huge improvement. The current mask are difficult with glasses and require to be released slightly to speak coherently. Each time I partially released the mask I could smell the fumes. Everyone did a great job supporting us enroute and after landing.
Second reporter narrative
En route to ZZZ1 out of ZZZ we noticed a strong electrical smell originating from the right side of the central pedestal. CA checked cargo area and ran smoke;fumes checklist and complied. Smell remained and O2 masks were donned; we declared an emergency and followed ATC directions back to ZZZ where the captain took control and performed an overweight landing.I would like to point out that in a stressful situation like this the differences in audio panels are a challenge and will eventually lead to communications problems. Just my observation.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.