Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness; Time Pressure; Troubleshooting; Workload
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical
Flight Crew FLC complied w / Automation / Advisory; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; Flight Crew Returned To Departure Airport; General Declared Emergency
Aircraft
Climbing through approximately 1;000 FT AGL the TAIL COMPARTMENT OVERHEAT warning illuminated. While continuing the initial climb and receiving vectors for the departure the memory items were completed. The warning did not extinguish and we continued with the QRH checklist. The warning did not extinguish until the right engine throttle was retarded to idle. We stopped the climb at 11;000 FT; declared an emergency; and told ATC we needed to return to the departure airport. We also got vectors to delay in the vicinity; to comply with checklists and to contact company etc. We also needed to prepare for an overweight landing which included performance data; missed approach flap settings etc. The First Officer was the pilot flying and I asked him if he was comfortable flying the approach and he said yes. He continued and flew a nice approach. (Senior FO) After landing the emergency equipment followed us to the gate and saw no smoke coming from the aircraft confirmed by ground control. We deplaned the passengers with no incident; contacted Maintenance; Dispatch and the Duty Pilot; and filled out the aircraft log book. The flight attendants were kept informed through the PA and interphone. They reported a calm cabin during the event. A tail compartment overheat is not an unusual event in an MD80 on hot days and would normally extinguish after the memory items are completed. In our case the day was not very hot 82F and the warning did not extinguish after the memory items. Unless Maintenance can inspect the aircraft in a different way I am not sure if this event could be avoided. The one suggestion I have is to give references at the end of the checklist on overweight landings. This event seems to occur on climb outs requiring an overweight return. In our case we would have had to burn off fuel for one hour to get us down to our max landing weight. With one engine at idle and a overheat situation the overweight landing was completed.
A MD-80 TAIL COMPARTMENT OVERHEAT warning alerted after takeoff but after the memory items were complete; the light did not extinguish until the right thrust lever was retarded per the QRH. An emergency was declared and the flight returned to the departure airport.