Narrative:

With passengers [boarding] the aircraft; I got a signal from one of the ramp crew members outside as well as a gate agent came on board and stated that I needed to come outside immediately because of smoke coming from the number 2 engine. I quickly exited the aircraft and upon seeing the right hand side of the number 2 engine I could see smoke coming from the dc starter/generator air exhaust port. I immediately went back inside the aircraft and shut off the APU; battery switches and took the airplane off gpu power. I instructed the gate agent to deplane immediately and went outside to analyze the condition of the starter/generator with power to the airplane turned off. Since there was still smoke coming from the exhaust port; I instructed the ramp crew to call arff just in case. I then assisted the flight attendant and gate agent in deplaning the aircraft through the main cabin door. Shortly thereafter; arff; as well as a on field mechanic showed up to the airplane and assisted with the issue. After a few minutes; the smoke subsided and the mechanic confirmed it was the starter/generator that was causing the smoke. Arff was dismissed and the aircraft was written up accordingly. On a side note; this exact same scenario happened about 3 years ago while I was a first officer on a Q200. Somehow; the dc starter/generator will short out while on ground power causing the starter to remain engaged and subsequently burn itself out. That was also on the number 2 engine side.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: DHC8-300 inbound and outbound Captains report smoke was coming from the starter/generator air exhaust port. Power is quickly removed from the aircraft and the passengers evacuated through the main cabin door.

Narrative: With passengers [boarding] the aircraft; I got a signal from one of the ramp crew members outside as well as a Gate Agent came on board and stated that I needed to come outside immediately because of smoke coming from the Number 2 engine. I quickly exited the aircraft and upon seeing the right hand side of the Number 2 engine I could see smoke coming from the DC starter/generator air exhaust port. I immediately went back inside the aircraft and shut off the APU; battery switches and took the airplane off GPU power. I instructed the gate agent to deplane immediately and went outside to analyze the condition of the starter/generator with power to the airplane turned off. Since there was still smoke coming from the exhaust port; I instructed the ramp crew to call ARFF just in case. I then assisted the Flight Attendant and Gate Agent in deplaning the aircraft through the main cabin door. Shortly thereafter; ARFF; as well as a on field Mechanic showed up to the airplane and assisted with the issue. After a few minutes; the smoke subsided and the Mechanic confirmed it was the starter/generator that was causing the smoke. ARFF was dismissed and the aircraft was written up accordingly. On a side note; this exact same scenario happened about 3 years ago while I was a First Officer on a Q200. Somehow; the DC starter/generator will short out while on ground power causing the starter to remain engaged and subsequently burn itself out. That was also on the Number 2 engine side.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.