A B777 flight crew on an oceanic flight reported a flight attendant called saying they had a strong burning rubber smell in the cabin. Their return to departure airport was complicated by difficulty reaching ATC on SATCOM.
Synopsis
A B777 flight crew on an oceanic flight reported a flight attendant called saying they had a strong burning rubber smell in the cabin. Their return to departure airport was complicated by difficulty reaching ATC on SATCOM.
Narrative
Flight Attendant called us from door 3 right stating there was a strong burning rubber smell from that area. I sent the First Officer back to verify that and to see if he could find a source. He returned asking that I go back and check it out as he stated the same as the flight attendant that it was a very strong burning rubber smell in that area. When I arrived by door 3 right I too smelled the same odor; so strong that it made my eyes burn and throat itch after a few minutes. There was no smell of those fumes in the Lavs but did exist also by door 3 left. At that time I personally decided that we needed to turn around and head back as it was not subsiding but actually getting worse and we could find no source. Back on the flight deck I told my First Officer of my decision and he wholeheartedly agreed and we told the Purser to suspend all services and to clean up for a landing in 40 minutes.I turned the aircraft control over to the First Office and attempted twice to raise and get a return clearance from Oceanic on SatCom but their phone just kept ringing with no answer which was very disturbing as this happened to me once before 5 years ago. I then went over to HF and contacted [commercial radio] and declared an emergency advising them we were turning back to [departure airport] on the Alpha track with a 15 mile offset to the north and descending to 33;500 FT...we also advised Dispatch and made a call on 123.45 to advise all aircraft in the area squawking 7700 and turning on all of our exterior lights. We received our clearance 5 minutes later on HF and proceeded to [departure airport]...The fumes/odor persisted until we descended to 10;000 FT and then subsided according to the Flight Attendant at door 3 right. We did land 25;000 LBS over weight as we were task saturated and looked up the numbers to find we would only need a runway length of 8;100 FT so we did not dump fuel. The landing was uneventful.
Second reporter narrative
[No additional information in second narrative]
NASA callback
Reporter stated aircraft type was B777. Cause of the burning odor was not determined. Reporter repeated his concern of multiple instances of failure to reach ATC on SATCOM.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.