A line mechanic reports he pulled a B737-800 aircraft back into the gate area after feeling somethin...

Narrative:

While getting ready to push back from gate; I called for jet bridge pull [retracted] which was done. Then waited upon food caterer X to move their truck which was at the aft left door of the aircraft; de-catering the aircraft. I could not pick up the aircraft while a truck is catering; or de-catering with the goldhofer tractor [tug]. After the catering truck backed out and I could see the truck off my left wing; I picked up the aircraft. I called my brake rider [flight deck] to release the brakes and turn on the anti-collision light. I then called ground control for pushback clearance. Ground control said 'clear to push onto alpha.' I put tractor into drive and started my push until I felt something. I pulled back into the gate a little and then went back to see what was there and saw the catering truck on its side. I called ground control again to get airfield safety to us. It seems that another [one of] food caterer X's truck had parked behind the aircraft and being in the tractor and the lighting I did not see the truck. Why they parked behind the aircraft I don't know. However I had the aircraft anti-collision light on and strobes on the goldhofer [tug] and numerous other lights on the tractor. [Recommend] don't park behind aircraft.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Line Mechanic reports he pulled a B737-800 aircraft back into the gate area after feeling something during his pushback. After walking to the back of the aircraft's tail; he noticed a food catering truck laying over on it's side.

Narrative: While getting ready to push back from gate; I called for jet bridge pull [retracted] which was done. Then waited upon Food Caterer X to move their truck which was at the aft left door of the aircraft; de-catering the aircraft. I could not pick up the aircraft while a truck is catering; or de-catering with the Goldhofer Tractor [Tug]. After the catering truck backed out and I could see the truck off my left wing; I picked up the aircraft. I called my Brake Rider [Flight deck] to release the brakes and turn on the anti-collision light. I then called Ground Control for pushback clearance. Ground Control said 'clear to push onto Alpha.' I put tractor into drive and started my push until I felt something. I pulled back into the gate a little and then went back to see what was there and saw the catering truck on its side. I called Ground Control again to get Airfield Safety to us. It seems that another [one of] Food Caterer X's truck had parked behind the aircraft and being in the tractor and the lighting I did not see the truck. Why they parked behind the aircraft I don't know. However I had the aircraft anti-collision light on and strobes on the Goldhofer [Tug] and numerous other lights on the tractor. [Recommend] don't park behind aircraft.

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	1013897
Time
Date	201205
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-800
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	APU
Person 1
Function	Technician
Qualification	Maintenance Powerplant Maintenance Airframe
Experience	Maintenance Technician 42
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Ground Event / Encounter Vehicle

A line mechanic reports he pulled a B737-800 aircraft back into the gate area after feeling something during his pushback. After walking to the back of the aircraft's tail; he noticed a food catering truck laying over on it's side.