Narrative:

During pushback from the gate; our tug driver inexplicably left his operating tug for an extended period of time. Neither my captain nor myself had any idea where he was (under the aircraft perhaps?) or why he departed his operating tug. Further; no interphone communication was ever made to inform us that he was leaving his tug. Therefore; we were hooked up to an operating tug (in gear perhaps?) with no tug driver; a fully loaded aircraft and no brakes set and positioned away from our gate. A few minutes later; our tug driver reappeared and said that he left his position to check whether some late arriving baggage/parcel had been loaded onto our aircraft. The captain sternly reminded the tug driver that safety was just compromised but the tug driver seemed more interested in critiquing the captain for dressing him down on the interphone and seemed disinterested in discussing the safety implications of his actions. In my opinion; the tug driver did not grasp the severity of the safety lapse he was solely responsible for moments earlier. Safety was compromised when our tug driver inexplicably left his operating tug for an extended period of time after beginning our aircraft pushback from the gate. I do not believe that this tug driver grasped the potentially dire safety implications of his actions and therefore additional safety training regarding aircraft pushback procedures and standard operating procedures (SOP) regarding aircraft pushback procedures is clearly warranted in this case at this particular station.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: During pushback of an air carrier aircraft the tug driver; without explanation; stopped the movement and exited the vehicle. When the tug driver returned; he was reportedly unaware of the safety implications involved with his actions. The Captain set the brakes and requested a new tug driver.

Narrative: During pushback from the gate; our tug driver inexplicably left his operating tug for an extended period of time. Neither my Captain nor myself had any idea where he was (under the aircraft perhaps?) or why he departed his operating tug. Further; no interphone communication was ever made to inform us that he was leaving his tug. Therefore; we were hooked up to an operating tug (in gear perhaps?) with no tug driver; a fully loaded aircraft and no brakes set and positioned away from our gate. A few minutes later; our tug driver reappeared and said that he left his position to check whether some late arriving baggage/parcel had been loaded onto our aircraft. The Captain sternly reminded the tug driver that safety was just compromised but the tug driver seemed more interested in critiquing the Captain for dressing him down on the interphone and seemed disinterested in discussing the safety implications of his actions. In my opinion; the tug driver did not grasp the severity of the safety lapse he was solely responsible for moments earlier. Safety was compromised when our tug driver inexplicably left his operating tug for an extended period of time after beginning our aircraft pushback from the gate. I do not believe that this tug driver grasped the potentially dire safety implications of his actions and therefore additional safety training regarding aircraft pushback procedures and standard operating procedures (SOP) regarding aircraft pushback procedures is clearly warranted in this case at this particular station.

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.