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Ground crewman supervising an aircraft tow reports a broken tow bar hitch approaching the gate. Before the aircraft can be signaled to set brakes the nose tires run over the towbar popping both tires.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1086645 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201305 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Commercial Fixed Wing |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Taxi |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | Nose Gear Tire |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Ramp |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Ground Event / Encounter Object Ground Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control Inflight Event / Encounter Object |
Narrative:
Equipment failure: towbar hitch broken causing the towbar to separate away from the aircraft. Aircraft was being towed using a steward and stevenson pushback tractor; one of our better pushback tractors but by no means a towing tractor. We have a goldhofer tow tractor but it is out of service more than in service. We towed across 2 taxiways making a couple left and right turns. As I was guiding the aircraft into the gate; I was positioned to the driver's right side due to a pre-positioned gpu. Making sure tractor cleared unit. As the tow was almost complete and tow tractor was slowing down I was guiding tractor to stop mark. I happened then to notice the nose of aircraft veering to the left of the tow tractor. I quickly crossed over to the left hand side of tractor to see what was going on only to hear a loud pop and then a second pop. The tractors driver also noticed at the same time and quickly pulled forward going to the right side away from nose of the aircraft. Simultaneously I radio to flight deck to set brakes. This happened so quick we didn't have time to stop aircraft before it ran over the towbar popping both nose gear tires. My angle of vision was blocked by the position of the gpu and the tow tractor.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Ground crewman supervising an aircraft tow reports a broken tow bar hitch approaching the gate. Before the aircraft can be signaled to set brakes the nose tires run over the towbar popping both tires.
Narrative: Equipment failure: Towbar hitch broken causing the towbar to separate away from the aircraft. Aircraft was being towed using a Steward and Stevenson pushback tractor; one of our better pushback tractors but by no means a towing tractor. We have a Goldhofer tow tractor but it is out of service more than in service. We towed across 2 taxiways making a couple left and right turns. As I was guiding the aircraft into the gate; I was positioned to the driver's right side due to a pre-positioned GPU. Making sure tractor cleared unit. As the tow was almost complete and tow tractor was slowing down I was guiding tractor to stop mark. I happened then to notice the nose of aircraft veering to the left of the tow tractor. I quickly crossed over to the left hand side of tractor to see what was going on only to hear a loud pop and then a second pop. The tractors driver also noticed at the same time and quickly pulled forward going to the right side away from nose of the aircraft. Simultaneously I radio to flight deck to set brakes. This happened so quick we didn't have time to stop aircraft before it ran over the towbar popping both nose gear tires. My angle of vision was blocked by the position of the GPU and the tow tractor.
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.