Narrative:

After landing; we used mostly reverse thrust to slow the aircraft and exited the runway. We had to use only minimal braking to stop the aircraft at the gate. However; when the main cabin door opened; the rampers came up and told us to look at the wheels (on the aircraft left side) because they were smoking. I went outside to look and saw that the wheels were in fact smoking. Based on previous experience with a brake overheat issue that nearly resulted in a fire; and because I thought it was the safest course of action; I preemptively called arff to come to our gate. We also made a phone call to dispatch to inform them of the situation. The passengers deplaned normally during this time. The smoke was not thick enough to be readily noticeable to passengers; nobody became alarmed. After the firefighters arrived; they determined that the brakes did not overheat as we suspected; but rather some sort of fluid (hydraulic fluid) had dripped on the brakes and was evaporating visibly. The firefighters measured a brake temperature of only 140 C. They left and maintenance showed up. They determined that there was a hydraulic leak in the nacelle; above the wheels. The aircraft was written up and handed over to maintenance.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Dash 8 Captain reported ramp personnel spotted smoke in the brake area after parking at the gate. Cause of the smoke was determined to be hydraulic fluid leaking onto the brake area.

Narrative: After landing; we used mostly reverse thrust to slow the aircraft and exited the runway. We had to use only minimal braking to stop the aircraft at the gate. However; when the main cabin door opened; the rampers came up and told us to look at the wheels (on the aircraft left side) because they were smoking. I went outside to look and saw that the wheels were in fact smoking. Based on previous experience with a brake overheat issue that nearly resulted in a fire; and because I thought it was the safest course of action; I preemptively called ARFF to come to our gate. We also made a phone call to Dispatch to inform them of the situation. The passengers deplaned normally during this time. The smoke was not thick enough to be readily noticeable to passengers; nobody became alarmed. After the firefighters arrived; they determined that the brakes did not overheat as we suspected; but rather some sort of fluid (hydraulic fluid) had dripped on the brakes and was evaporating visibly. The firefighters measured a brake temperature of only 140 C. They left and maintenance showed up. They determined that there was a hydraulic leak in the nacelle; above the wheels. The aircraft was written up and handed over to maintenance.

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.