Narrative:

We landed approximately twenty minutes early and were given a clearance to taxi to our assigned gate. Upon arriving; we held short of the gate because there were no personnel to park us. I made a call to operations requesting a ground crew. After waiting about thirty seconds; two ramp agents came out from [another gate] where another aircraft was preparing to push back. We had one wing walker on the right side of the aircraft and a marshaller with wands at the nose. We lined up normally and began taxiing in at normal taxi speed. I noticed nothing unusual at first. As we continued forward I was shifting my visual focus between the nose and the right side of the aircraft. At one point; I got the sense out of my left peripheral vision that we were being marshaled more forward than normal. This drew my attention to the jetway and nose area which normally contain any initial collision hazards. We appeared closer than normal; but clear. [The captain] was beginning to slow the aircraft and my attention then went to the marshaller who was smiling and still bringing us in. I believe his arms were moving upwards to begin slowing us; but the wands were not close to touching or crossing. We were still being actively signaled forward. As my focus was returning to the right side of the airplane; I heard the noise as the #2 propeller struck the gpu. I immediately called to the captain to 'cut the engines.' he brought the condition levers to 'fuel off' and set the parking brake. After he did this I was thinking about a possible fire and pulled the t-handles. After scanning the area I reported that there was no fire and we discussed an evacuation but decided it would be safer to deplane normally. He called for the parking checklist and exited the flight deck to check on the passengers; flight attendant; and collect information from the ramp personnel. I called operations to report the incident and get some assistance then continued with the parking and terminating checklists. The captain determined there were no injuries and spoke with maintenance; the ramp supervisor; and dispatch. I also note that the captain mentioned when he got out of the aircraft to speak with the marshaller and wing walker involved; they were walking away from the scene. Within a half hour we were instructed to ride with maintenance to another aircraft and continue the rest of our scheduled day; which consisted of three more legs.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A DHC-8 First Officer reported the right propeller struck a ground power unit as they were being marshalled in by a ramp employee. There was no indication of any problem until impact.

Narrative: We landed approximately twenty minutes early and were given a clearance to taxi to our assigned gate. Upon arriving; we held short of the gate because there were no personnel to park us. I made a call to Operations requesting a ground crew. After waiting about thirty seconds; two ramp agents came out from [another gate] where another aircraft was preparing to push back. We had one Wing Walker on the right side of the aircraft and a Marshaller with wands at the nose. We lined up normally and began taxiing in at normal taxi speed. I noticed nothing unusual at first. As we continued forward I was shifting my visual focus between the nose and the right side of the aircraft. At one point; I got the sense out of my left peripheral vision that we were being marshaled more forward than normal. This drew my attention to the jetway and nose area which normally contain any initial collision hazards. We appeared closer than normal; but clear. [The Captain] was beginning to slow the aircraft and my attention then went to the Marshaller who was smiling and still bringing us in. I believe his arms were moving upwards to begin slowing us; but the wands were not close to touching or crossing. We were still being actively signaled forward. As my focus was returning to the right side of the airplane; I heard the noise as the #2 propeller struck the GPU. I immediately called to the Captain to 'Cut the Engines.' He brought the condition levers to 'Fuel Off' and set the parking brake. After he did this I was thinking about a possible fire and pulled the T-Handles. After scanning the area I reported that there was no fire and we discussed an evacuation but decided it would be safer to deplane normally. He called for the parking checklist and exited the Flight Deck to check on the passengers; Flight Attendant; and collect information from the ramp personnel. I called Operations to report the incident and get some assistance then continued with the parking and terminating checklists. The Captain determined there were no injuries and spoke with Maintenance; the Ramp Supervisor; and Dispatch. I also note that the Captain mentioned when he got out of the aircraft to speak with the Marshaller and Wing Walker involved; they were walking away from the scene. Within a half hour we were instructed to ride with Maintenance to another aircraft and continue the rest of our scheduled day; which consisted of three more legs.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.