MD-83
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical
Flight Crew Returned To Departure Airport; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; General Declared Emergency
Aircraft
Out of 6;000 FT a Master Warning Tail Compartment High Indication came on. As the flying pilot I flew and took the radios while the First Officer ran the memory items and pulled out the checklist. After the 2 minutes we were unable to get the light out and continued to run the QRH. We isolated the leak to the left engine. We had no passengers on board and I had an FA go to the tail looking for fire indications.  Per the checklist we left the left engine at idle and declared an emergency and returned for a right traffic pattern. Emergency vehicles were standing by and followed us to the gate. I had the FA's plan for a possible forward evacuation if fire indications were communicated from Tower or emergency vehicles. A previous write up had been in the logbook for left engine ducting work and it seemed like the likely cause for the bleed leak.
MD-83 Captain experiences a Tail Compartment Temp High light climbing out of 6;000 FT. QRH procedures are complied with; an emergency is declared and flight returns to the departure airport with the left engine at idle per the chicklist.