A CRJ-50 Flight Crew suffered the loss of nose wheel steering shortly prior to landing. They declared an emergency; landed without incident and were towed to the gate. Reporter advised of several previous instances of similar steering warnings.

Narrative

During cruise flight; we got a 'Steer Inop'. Nose wheel steering would not reset per the QRH. We would be landing without nose wheel steering. We contacted Operations and Maintenance Control and coordinated with company for an emergency landing and a tow in to the gate at our destination. We then advised ATC we were declaring an emergency and that we would need the longest runway. The approach and landing were normal; along with roll out. We cleared the runway via the high speed exit; rolled to a taxiway; set the brakes and waited for the tow equipment. The nose wheel steering had failed/disengaged two legs earlier during a sharp left hand turn. I stopped when I felt it. I moved the tiller then got the 'STEER INOP' message. The system reset with no further problem for two legs. This is not completely uncommon. The aircraft are even known to have a 'Steer Inop' nuisance message sometimes after takeoff. This is my second 'Steer Inop' failure in the last two months. This happened twice after maintenance had cleared the problem. Any steering problems should be reported to Maintenance Control immediately even if one thinks it is a nuisance message.