B737 first officer reports the air hose; from a ground air start cart; separating from the aircraft ...

Narrative:

Our original aircraft for this leg was a -300 with an inop APU. Ground ops hooked up a ground air cart to start the #1 engine. After clearance from the ground crew and verification of airflow; we began the start sequence for the #1 engine. At about 35% N2; we noticed the air cart making a lot more noise than usual and the N2 rotation had hung at 35%. We aborted the engine start. The captain informed the ground personnel that we had aborted the engine start. Ground ops then informed the captain via the headset that the airstart hose had disconnected from the aircraft. Ground ops then shut down the start cart. After making sure that everyone on the ground was okay; we were informed that the end of the hose had struck the #2 engine. I immediately called for maintenance and the captain went down on the ramp to assess the situation. The hose damaged the cowling on the inboard side of the #2 engine at eye level. We swapped to another aircraft. The main reason for writing this report is to ensure that the ground crew is safe in the event that this occurs again. I am just thankful that no one was hurt. Make sure that everyone on the ground is well clear of the hose during ground air starts. Thankfully everyone was clear during this event. Hopefully ground personnel are aware of what that hose can do if it disconnects during a ground air start.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 First Officer reports the air hose; from a ground air start cart; separating from the aircraft during engine start and striking the number two engine. The engine cowl is dented and the aircraft is taken out of service.

Narrative: Our original aircraft for this leg was a -300 with an inop APU. Ground Ops hooked up a ground air cart to start the #1 engine. After clearance from the ground crew and verification of airflow; we began the start sequence for the #1 engine. At about 35% N2; we noticed the air cart making a lot more noise than usual and the N2 rotation had hung at 35%. We aborted the engine start. The Captain informed the ground personnel that we had aborted the engine start. Ground Ops then informed the Captain via the headset that the airstart hose had disconnected from the aircraft. Ground Ops then shut down the start cart. After making sure that everyone on the ground was okay; we were informed that the end of the hose had struck the #2 engine. I immediately called for Maintenance and the Captain went down on the ramp to assess the situation. The hose damaged the cowling on the inboard side of the #2 engine at eye level. We swapped to another aircraft. The main reason for writing this report is to ensure that the ground crew is safe in the event that this occurs again. I am just thankful that no one was hurt. Make sure that everyone on the ground is well clear of the hose during ground air starts. Thankfully everyone was clear during this event. Hopefully ground personnel are aware of what that hose can do if it disconnects during a ground air start.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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	1154475
Time
Date	201403
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	PHX.Airport
State Reference	AZ
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-300
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	First Officer
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 370
Events
Anomaly	Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown

B737 first officer reports the air hose; from a ground air start cart; separating from the aircraft during engine start and striking the number two engine. The engine cowl is dented and the aircraft is taken out of service.