Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Distraction; Situational Awareness; Workload; Confusion; Communication Breakdown
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; Flight Crew Returned To Departure Airport; Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew FLC complied w / Automation / Advisory; General Declared Emergency
Aircraft
We departed the runway into moderate turbulence with flammable liquids in the main cargo compartment. Through 10;000 FT the Captain experienced problems with his headset. Not able to hear or transmit. I resumed flying and ATC communications. As I climbed through 26;000 FT I noticed my airspeed beginning to degrade. I slowed my rate of ascent to gain back airspeed. It appeared to be frontal passage windshear. Airspeed still was degrading quickly and I stopped the climb and added power. This did not work either. I spoke out loud what the problem was but the Captain couldn't hear me because he was troubleshooting his com problem. I commanded a 500 FT/minute descent to gain back airspeed. Airspeed still was dropping very rapidly now and I added more power. This is where the Captain noticed what was going on. After the final power increase we both notice an N1 overspeed. He stated he had good airspeed indications and that he had the aircraft. From good climb airspeed to this point was probably 30 seconds.At this moment we both smelled fumes and saw hazy smoke in the cockpit. We ran the smoke/fumes memory items and I declared an emergency with a return to the departure airport. I resumed to Smoke/Fumes Checklist and realized that the smoke was no longer present. We agreed to abandon the Smoke Fumes Checklist. We started the checklist for the pitot static caution light and finished that. Since we were getting close to the airport we elected to not run the Airspeed Unreliable Checklist because the Captain had good airspeed indications. Communication was still very difficult because the Captain could not hear ATC. We landed on the runway and were met by Airfield Rescue and Fire Fighters. No fire was present and we taxied back to the cargo ramp. We had multiple problems: Pitot static failure; communication problems and an unknown source of smoke.
After departure a B737-400 Captain; the flying pilot; lost communications so the First Officer assuming flying but his airspeed malfunctioned so he added power overspeeding N1; but could not communicate the problems to the Captain. Both pilots detected smoke and fumes so the Captain assumed flying; declared an emergency and returned to the departure airport.