Narrative:

We pushed a few minutes late due to delay in fueling process. Weather was cavu and temp was 39 F. The ramp was dry and clean. Pushback commenced normally but then the first officer and I noticed we were moving backward quite rapidly. We pushed straight backwards without any turns. The first officer and I noticed that not only were we being pushed back at a speed faster than normal; we were being pushed back much further than normal. I could not see the tug or its driver but the actions of the wing walker on the captains side indicated that all was normal. Suddenly; but calmly; and without urgency the tug driver told me via the headset to 'set the parking brake.' I was confused as we were still moving backwards at approximately 15 kts. Again he said without urgency 'set the parking brake.' I replied; 'you need to stop us first.' I couldn't understand why he wanted me to; set the parking brake while we were still moving so quickly.neither the first officer nor I ever heard any abnormal noise from the nlg area and all indications were that the pushback was normal; at least from our vantage point. Again the tug driver told me to 'set the parking brake' despite the aircraft still moving. He then said 'stop the airplane; I lost my brakes.' the words 'breakaway' or 'runaway' were never used by the tug driver. Knowing fas were in the aisle performing safety demos; I gently stopped the airplane using the brake pedals; not the parking brake as the tug driver had requested. Once stopped; I set the parking brake; and asked the tug driver what had happened. He told me; 'the brakes went out on the tug.' this was the first time I was told that anything abnormal had occurred. I told the driver they better not try to push any other aircraft with that tug. He said they wouldn't and he would 'tag it.' he then commenced with normal pushback procedures and phraseology as if nothing had happened. It was at this time that the first officer noticed out his side window how close we had come to hitting a crj-700 which was parked in the 'hardstand' area of the ramp. The rj was properly parked but we realized we had been pushed back well into the 'hardstand' area. The first officer also informed me that a mechanic was racing up the right side of our airplane from hardstand area. He took the headset away from the tug driver and told me 'hey captain; you almost hit me!' I apologized and explained that the brakes failed on the push tug. He said; 'no way! You guys were never hooked up to the tug!' I tried to clarify assuming that the tow bar had become disconnected from the nlg. He said; 'no; the tow bar was never connected to the tug.' he had witnessed the whole event and said the tow bar stayed connected to our airplane and we essentially dragged it with us as we coasted backward across the ramp. We were not connected to the tug by anything other than the headset cord the entire way. The tug was just chasing us across the ramp. I asked him to inspect our nlg for damage. He did and said that it was fine. The tow bar had stayed attached to the nlg and just trailed us in a straight line. I verified that we had not impacted the crj-700 that he was working on. He said no but we had come really close to his truck which was parked forward and left of the crj and was not visible to us as it was directly behind our aircraft. I thanked him for his help and he put the tug driver back on the headset. Engines were started normally. We watched the tug; supposedly without brakes; drive back to the terminal and stop without incident.before departing; I called ops and asked for the name and phone number of the supervisor who performs contract services. I called ms X upon my arrival and left a voice mail concerning the incident. She called me back; along with the general manager overseeing ground services. Both of them completely understood my concern of the incident which had taken place; the threat to safety of ground personnel; passengers; crew and exposure to severe airplane damage. We discussed the total departure from SOP by the push crew and the fact that the tug driver blatantly lied to me regarding what had taken place out of my view. Ms X was genuinely apologetic and upset by the performance of the ground crew assigned to push us back. She informed me that two of the employees involved had already been terminated and had left the airport.I want to close with a brief reflection of the incident from my vantage point. As the captain; we are forced to relinquish control of our aircraft during pushback. It is imperative that the push crews are trained; competent and willing to keep the flight crew apprised of what is taking place outside our field of vision. We have to be able to trust them. If I would have blindly followed the tug drivers command to 'set the parking brake' while we were still moving; fas surely would have been injured by the sudden and immediate stop; the aircraft might well have tipped on its tail; and the tug would most likely not have stopped as quickly as the airplane and would have probably crashed into the nlg of our airplane causing severe damage. This was a very serious incident compounded by the ground crew trying to cover it up by lying to the captain.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A319 Captain reported being pushed back by a tug without the tow bar being securely attached to the tug. The tug driver then asks for the parking brake to be set with the aircraft moving rapidly backwards then announces that the tug brakes have failed. The Captain applies the brakes gently narrowly missing a CRJ parked on the ramp.

Narrative: We pushed a few minutes late due to delay in fueling process. Weather was CAVU and temp was 39 F. The ramp was dry and clean. Pushback commenced normally but then the FO and I noticed we were moving backward quite rapidly. We pushed straight backwards without any turns. The FO and I noticed that not only were we being pushed back at a speed faster than normal; we were being pushed back much further than normal. I could not see the tug or its driver but the actions of the wing walker on the Captains side indicated that all was normal. Suddenly; but calmly; and without urgency the tug driver told me via the headset to 'set the parking brake.' I was confused as we were still moving backwards at approximately 15 kts. Again he said without urgency 'set the parking brake.' I replied; 'You need to stop us first.' I couldn't understand why he wanted me to; set the parking brake while we were still moving so quickly.Neither the FO nor I ever heard any abnormal noise from the NLG area and all indications were that the pushback was normal; at least from our vantage point. Again the tug driver told me to 'set the parking brake' despite the aircraft still moving. He then said 'stop the airplane; I lost my brakes.' The words 'breakaway' or 'runaway' were never used by the tug driver. Knowing FAs were in the aisle performing safety demos; I gently stopped the airplane using the brake pedals; not the parking brake as the tug driver had requested. Once stopped; I set the parking brake; and asked the tug driver what had happened. He told me; 'The brakes went out on the tug.' This was the first time I was told that anything abnormal had occurred. I told the driver they better not try to push any other aircraft with that tug. He said they wouldn't and he would 'tag it.' He then commenced with normal pushback procedures and phraseology as If nothing had happened. It was at this time that the FO noticed out his side window how close we had come to hitting a CRJ-700 which was parked in the 'hardstand' area of the ramp. The RJ was properly parked but we realized we had been pushed back well into the 'Hardstand' area. The FO also informed me that a mechanic was racing up the right side of our airplane from hardstand area. He took the headset away from the tug driver and told me 'Hey Captain; you almost hit me!' I apologized and explained that the brakes failed on the push tug. He said; 'No way! You guys were never hooked up to the tug!' I tried to clarify assuming that the tow bar had become disconnected from the NLG. He said; 'No; the tow bar was never connected to the tug.' He had witnessed the whole event and said the tow bar stayed connected to our airplane and we essentially dragged it with us as we coasted backward across the ramp. We were not connected to the tug by anything other than the headset cord the entire way. The tug was just chasing us across the ramp. I asked him to inspect our NLG for damage. He did and said that it was fine. The tow bar had stayed attached to the NLG and just trailed us in a straight line. I verified that we had not impacted the CRJ-700 that he was working on. He said no but we had come really close to his truck which was parked forward and left of the CRJ and was not visible to us as it was directly behind our aircraft. I thanked him for his help and he put the tug driver back on the headset. Engines were started normally. We watched the tug; supposedly without brakes; drive back to the terminal and stop without incident.Before departing; I called ops and asked for the name and phone number of the supervisor who performs contract services. I called Ms X upon my arrival and left a voice mail concerning the incident. She called me back; along with the General Manager overseeing ground services. Both of them completely understood my concern of the incident which had taken place; the threat to safety of ground personnel; passengers; crew and exposure to severe airplane damage. We discussed the total departure from SOP by the push crew and the fact that the tug driver blatantly lied to me regarding what had taken place out of my view. Ms X was genuinely apologetic and upset by the performance of the ground crew assigned to push us back. She informed me that two of the employees involved had already been terminated and had left the airport.I want to close with a brief reflection of the incident from my vantage point. As the captain; we are forced to relinquish control of our aircraft during pushback. It is imperative that the push crews are trained; competent and willing to keep the flight crew apprised of what is taking place outside our field of vision. We have to be able to trust them. If I would have blindly followed the tug drivers command to 'Set the Parking Brake' while we were still moving; FAs surely would have been injured by the sudden and immediate stop; the aircraft might well have tipped on its tail; and the tug would most likely not have stopped as quickly as the airplane and would have probably crashed into the NLG of our airplane causing severe damage. This was a very serious incident compounded by the ground crew trying to cover it up by lying to the Captain.

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.