Despite write-ups of apparently noxious fumes throughout the B757 on the inbound descent and declarations of concern to the outbound Flight Attendant crew by the inbound crew; the Captain; upon consultation with Maintenance Control; decided to accept the aircraft and continue to the final destination where more intensive maintenance investigation would be conducted. The Flight Attendants agreed to work the trip only reluctantly and the outbound flight declared an emergency due to fumes in the cockpit and cabin during the initial climb.
Synopsis
Despite write-ups of apparently noxious fumes throughout the B757 on the inbound descent and declarations of concern to the outbound Flight Attendant crew by the inbound crew; the Captain; upon consultation with Maintenance Control; decided to accept the aircraft and continue to the final destination where more intensive maintenance investigation would be conducted. The Flight Attendants agreed to work the trip only reluctantly and the outbound flight declared an emergency due to fumes in the cockpit and cabin during the initial climb.
Narrative
Takeoff and climb went normally. Approaching 10;000 FT the cockpit was very warm and the temperature was fast approaching 98 degrees and we were discussing the systems; causes and possible solutions when the Flight Attendant called and informed me the cabin crew was smelling something throughout the cabin. They said that they could not determine the source. I told them I would get back to them and then gave aircraft control and ATC communication to the First Officer while I tried to contact Dispatch and Maintenance Control. After several minutes I finally made contact and discussed the situation.While talking to Dispatch and Maintenance Control; I got another call from the cabin stating that the passengers were also smelling it and that it had become irritating to the eyes. At this point I decided to declare an emergency and return to our departure airport. Maintenance Control requested we shut off the right bleed; after descending past FL350; believing the right engine could be part of the problem. With so many things happening; I ended the call with Maintenance Control told Dispatch of my intentions and put my focus on the immediate issues. During the descent many things happened in a short time span; including not being able to control the cabin altitude and a smoke detector in the cabin being activated. We solved the temperature issue; ran the QRC Smoke/Fire/Fumes checklist; the QRC Cabin Altitude/Rapid Decompression checklist; and the approach checklist; coordinated with ATC; the cabin crew and made announcements to the passengers. The cabin crew; with the assistance of a deadheading company mechanic; silenced the smoke alarm and began to prepare the cabin for landing. We coordinated with ATC to descend to 10;000 FT as soon as the terrain permitted. At 10;000 FT we removed our oxygen masks; after determining that the cockpit had no fumes; and landed as quickly as possible with no further incident.
Second reporter narrative
The inbound purser pulled me aside before I boarded the aircraft to explain that during descent the cabin had filled up with an extremely strong chemical smell that was giving crew and passengers headaches and burning their eyes. I then talked to our Captain who had also flown the plane in. He said the cockpit had experienced the symptoms as well.I then pulled all four flight attendants together to approach the Captain and advocate our position per our CLR training. I explained; in front of the entire crew; that I had heard of crews who had been exposed to strong chemical smells in-flight that resulted in medical toxicity issues for them; after the fact; and that the entire cabin crew was extremely uncomfortable and felt unsafe taking the aircraft following the occurrence of such conditions on the inbound flight. The Captain said he understood and would be running checks to try and isolate the problem and he would get back to us with his decision. After a few checks the Captain advised he believed the smell was coming from an oil filter that was changed in the right engine. He advised he felt comfortable taking the aircraft as they would be shutting down air filtration to the Hepa filter on that side of the aircraft to stop the issue of fumes entering into the cabin in-flight. He further stated that once the aircraft gets to ZZZ it is going to be thoroughly taken apart but; if we experienced any problems in flight we would land immediately. I did not want to argue with the Captain's decision as I had already strongly expressed my concerns via CLR to him in front of the entire crew. I then called a union representative to see how I could advocate further for fear of health and safety concerns that I still had and he said 'you did everything you could using CLR and ultimately the only person who can make the decision to cancel a flight or deem it unsafe is the Captain.' I personally did not feel safe when the Captain told me that our aircraft was going to be completely taken apart in ZZZ as that seemed an indication to me that the problem was not fully resolved. [We departed.]I explained [to the Captain] that the smell was progressively getting worse in the cabin and passengers were complaining their eyes were stinging and people were getting headaches. The Captain stated he would be making an emergency landing back at our departure airport. He told me no cabin preparation was needed at this time and we would be landing normally and there would be no signal to brace as we would just taxi back to the gate. The special instructions were to turn off all electrical switches throughout the aircraft such as ovens lights; coffee burners; etc. including the video entertainment system. No visible smoke or heat was present anywhere in the cabin; just a strong chemical smell.We landed normally and the entire crew debriefed with the Captain after landing. I wanted the debriefing to be a learning experience for myself personally and the entire crew as I had advocated very strongly in the beginning to the Captain that the entire [cabin] crew felt uncomfortable and unsafe taking the aircraft on with such issues of strong chemical smells occurring in-flight from the previous segment. The Captain explained that he had felt that they had isolated the problem so the plane was safe to fly. However; he also told us that when we continue to feel unsafe after a Captain's decision we should continue to push the issue as an entire crew even after the Captain has made his decision. I felt this had been expressed strongly upfront and that it [would have been] very disrespectful to argue with the Captain's authority after the decision to fly had been made. I would like to advocate that further training be incorporated within CLR to address this issue.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.