Narrative:

While being pushed back from the gate; we received a reroute for weather. I was listening to the clearance and writing it down. I heard the ground crew who were on headset with me tell me to 'set brakes'. I complied and set the brakes and read back 'brakes set' and requested that they stay hooked up because I was in a neo and wanted to make sure the engines started before they disconnected. We then proceeded to start the engines and during that process I told the ground crew they could disconnect. My mind went back to watching the first officer input the reroute into the flight plan. While I was distracted with that I heard the ground crew ask if they could disconnect and I immediately reached down and turned the parking brake but turned it the wrong way. I thought I was setting it but actually turned it off; but my feet were on the brake petals and the aircraft didn't move. At the same time the ground crew told me to set the brakes as they saw that I had actually released the brake. I apologized and asked if everything was ok and they said it was. Pay more attention to what I am supposed to be watching and think prior to just turning a knob.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A320 Captain reported that when asked to set the brakes he turned the handle the wrong way.

Narrative: While being pushed back from the gate; we received a reroute for weather. I was listening to the clearance and writing it down. I heard the ground crew who were on headset with me tell me to 'set brakes'. I complied and set the brakes and read back 'Brakes set' and requested that they stay hooked up because I was in a NEO and wanted to make sure the engines started before they disconnected. We then proceeded to start the engines and during that process I told the ground crew they could disconnect. My mind went back to watching the first officer input the reroute into the flight plan. While I was distracted with that I heard the ground crew ask if they could disconnect and I immediately reached down and turned the parking brake but turned it the wrong way. I thought I was setting it but actually turned it off; but my feet were on the brake petals and the aircraft didn't move. At the same time the ground crew told me to set the brakes as they saw that I had actually released the brake. I apologized and asked if everything was ok and they said it was. Pay more attention to what I am supposed to be watching and think prior to just turning a knob.

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.