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Ramp employee reported having some difficulty releasing the new tow bar from the aircraft after pushback; causing a 'rough disconnect.'
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1269015 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201506 |
| 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 |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Ramp |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown |
Narrative:
Today I was the designated wing walker on [a] flight. I was given the ok to disconnect the tow bar by the tug driver. I pulled the pin and moved the latch from left to right and made sure that the tow bar had disconnected. It felt a little bit tight so I wiggled the tow bar to help loosen the bar. It felt ok so I went ahead and gave the ok for the tug driver to reverse. At that moment the tow bar had a rough disconnect; which alerted the pilot to [ask] a mechanic to make sure all was ok. The mechanic showed up about 2 minutes or so later and deemed that all was well. However; the pilot still wanted to tow the aircraft back to the gate to make sure. Once we arrived back to the gate; the team of mechanics deemed that the aircraft was ok. They said that due to a very new towbar; the connection to the front landing gear can be tight. What I learned in this situation is that on newer equipment that I must really make sure that the tow bar is truly disconnected (which it was) but can still be very tight.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Ramp employee reported having some difficulty releasing the new tow bar from the aircraft after pushback; causing a 'rough disconnect.'
Narrative: Today I was the designated wing walker on [a] flight. I was given the ok to disconnect the tow bar by the tug driver. I pulled the pin and moved the latch from left to right and made sure that the tow bar had disconnected. It felt a little bit tight so I wiggled the tow bar to help loosen the bar. It felt ok so I went ahead and gave the ok for the tug driver to reverse. At that moment the tow bar had a rough disconnect; which alerted the pilot to [ask] a mechanic to make sure all was ok. The mechanic showed up about 2 minutes or so later and deemed that all was well. However; the pilot still wanted to tow the aircraft back to the gate to make sure. Once we arrived back to the gate; the team of mechanics deemed that the aircraft was ok. They said that due to a very new towbar; the connection to the front landing gear can be tight. What I learned in this situation is that on newer equipment that I must really make sure that the tow bar is truly disconnected (which it was) but can still be very tight.
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.