Narrative:

While level at 6000' the #2 engine began surging. We first noticed repeated yawing and an audible surging sound. We noted the #2 fuel flow surging +/- 100 pph and the #2 torque surging +/- 20%. I decided to shut down the #2 engine and began verbalizing the memory actions for an in flight engine failure. We ran the engine failure checklist; engine cleanup checklist; and single engine landing checklist. A precautionary single-engine landing was completed at the nearest suitable airport. Upon exiting the runway; I noted degraded steering ability and instructed the first officer to advise ground that we would need to stop when clear of the runways. After stopping I contacted dispatch and maintenance control. I asked maintenance if I could taxi into the gate single engine or if I needed to be towed. He replied; 'I don't know. I don't fly the airplane. Let me contact the manager on duty. Standby.' I waited about one minute and decided to continue taxi with the provision that we were operating with degraded steering and would need to offload the passengers at a remote pad. Ground control cleared us to taxi and said he would contact the ramp to see where they wanted us to go. He came back to us with instructions to taxi to the ramp and that we could expect to be towed into the gate. As we entered the ramp the area around the gate was free of all ground equipment and the taxi lane was very wide. I had adequate braking and felt that the steering was adequate to proceed into the gate unassisted. We parked the plane normally. The passengers were deplaned and the flight terminated.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Dash-8 Flight Crew shut down the right engine due to surging fuel flow and torque while level at 6000MSL. After shutdown they diverted to a nearby airport where they encountered minor nose wheel steering difficulties but were able to taxi to the gate.

Narrative: While level at 6000' the #2 engine began surging. We first noticed repeated yawing and an audible surging sound. We noted the #2 fuel flow surging +/- 100 pph and the #2 torque surging +/- 20%. I decided to shut down the #2 engine and began verbalizing the memory actions for an in flight engine failure. We ran the Engine Failure checklist; Engine Cleanup checklist; and Single Engine Landing checklist. A precautionary single-engine landing was completed at the nearest suitable airport. Upon exiting the runway; I noted degraded steering ability and instructed the first officer to advise ground that we would need to stop when clear of the runways. After stopping I contacted dispatch and maintenance control. I asked maintenance if I could taxi into the gate single engine or if I needed to be towed. He replied; 'I don't know. I don't fly the airplane. Let me contact the manager on duty. Standby.' I waited about one minute and decided to continue taxi with the provision that we were operating with degraded steering and would need to offload the passengers at a remote pad. Ground control cleared us to taxi and said he would contact the ramp to see where they wanted us to go. He came back to us with instructions to taxi to the ramp and that we could expect to be towed into the gate. As we entered the ramp the area around the gate was free of all ground equipment and the taxi lane was very wide. I had adequate braking and felt that the steering was adequate to proceed into the gate unassisted. We parked the plane normally. The passengers were deplaned and the flight terminated.

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.