While preparing for departure on a ferry flight; a B737 captain smells smoke and sees a maintenance ...

Narrative:

The first officer and I were preparing for departure with the flight attendants on board and no passengers. Maintenance had just left the airplane when we smelled smoke in the cockpit. I looked outside to see the maintenance man frantically shutting down external power and pulled a flaming external power cord from the aircraft receptacle. We opened the first officer's window and he suggested we evacuate the aircraft. I immediately made a PA advising the flight attendants to evacuate the aircraft thru the front door (1L). The first officer and I powered down the aircraft and vacated thru the front door also. By that time there was substantial smoke and fumes on the flight deck. No one was injured; mostly because of the maintenance man's rapid and assertive actions and the immediate action and response from my crew; extraordinary job to prevent damage to the aircraft which could have been severe.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: While preparing for departure on a ferry flight; a B737 Captain smells smoke and sees a Maintenance man pulling a flaming ground power cord from the aircraft receptacle. The aircraft is shut down and the crew evacuates through the main cabin door.

Narrative: The First Officer and I were preparing for departure with the flight attendants on board and no passengers. Maintenance had just left the airplane when we smelled smoke in the cockpit. I looked outside to see the maintenance man frantically shutting down external power and pulled a flaming external power cord from the aircraft receptacle. We opened the First Officer's window and he suggested we evacuate the aircraft. I immediately made a PA advising the flight attendants to evacuate the aircraft thru the front door (1L). The First Officer and I powered down the aircraft and vacated thru the front door also. By that time there was substantial smoke and fumes on the flight deck. No one was injured; mostly because of the Maintenance man's rapid and assertive actions and the immediate action and response from my crew; extraordinary job to prevent damage to the aircraft which could have been severe.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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.

Attributes
ACN	1010910
Time
Date	201205
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-800
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	External Power
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown

While preparing for departure on a ferry flight; a B737 captain smells smoke and sees a maintenance man pulling a flaming ground power cord from the aircraft receptacle. The aircraft is shut down and the crew evacuates through the main cabin door.