Description

On 13 March 2013, an Embraer ERJ170-100LR, being operated by Air France subsidiary Régional into Nuremberg, had just arrived on its gate in normal daylight ground visibility when a routinely connected GPU immediately disconnected and smoke became evident. A precautionary rapid disembarkation of the 77 passengers was accomplished. Minor damage was caused to the aircraft.

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the BFU Germany. Both of the combined voice/data recorders fitted to the aircraft were downloaded and the BEA France prepared a transcript of voice file for the period from just before landing until the end of the recording and this showed that there had been "no unusual incidents".

There was no evidence of anything unusual at or in the vicinity of the external ground power receptacle but (see the diagram below) "the inside was covered by molten material, the connected cables and the circuit breakers located above were covered by soot". The wire bundles above the internal interface with the receptacle "were covered by soot and the insulation of the pipes showed heat damage".