Narrative:

We pushed back from [the] gate. I had flown out of [this airport] several times within the past few months and nothing about the push back seemed non normal to me. We were pushed back on the center line that was painted for our gate. After starting the engines and prior to pushback; we observed that a 737 was in close proximity to our right wing. Before we initiated taxi; we noticed ground personnel grab some wands and get into a truck and be brought to our right side to observe our wing and the tail of the 737. I told the captain that I would keep my eyes on the ground personnel on the wing the entire time and let him know if at any point he indicated to the lead marshaller to stop the aircraft. Upon completion of the turnout that was directed by the lead marshaller; we grazed our right wing against the horizontal stabilizer of the parked 737. At no point during this process did any of us observe a marshaller indicating for us to stop. Because of the low impact; we were unaware that we had actually struck anything and attributed the slight jerk to the steering on turnout. As we exited the ramp; we noticed the ground personnel indicating for us to stop. At this point they had advised ATC to notify us as well. After conferring with ops and on-board maintenance personnel; we taxied back to the gate without further incident. Once we had deplaned; we talked to the ground handlers about the situation. We became aware that he was uncomfortable with the pushback and tried to relay this information to the lead marshaller. He also told us that the 737 was parked approximately 10 feet short of its parking line which would have made our center line for taxi out essentially useless.[suggestion] better trained marshallers. There also should be a way for our ground guys to communicate with the marshallers and push crew. Hand held radios or something.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B747 flight crew reported that the aircraft made contact with the stabilizer of a parked Boeing 737 during taxi.

Narrative: We pushed back from [the] gate. I had flown out of [this airport] several times within the past few months and nothing about the push back seemed non normal to me. We were pushed back on the center line that was painted for our gate. After starting the engines and prior to pushback; we observed that a 737 was in close proximity to our right wing. Before we initiated taxi; we noticed ground personnel grab some wands and get into a truck and be brought to our right side to observe our wing and the tail of the 737. I told the Captain that I would keep my eyes on the ground personnel on the wing the entire time and let him know if at any point he indicated to the lead marshaller to stop the aircraft. Upon completion of the turnout that was directed by the lead marshaller; we grazed our right wing against the horizontal stabilizer of the parked 737. At no point during this process did any of us observe a marshaller indicating for us to stop. Because of the low impact; we were unaware that we had actually struck anything and attributed the slight jerk to the steering on turnout. As we exited the ramp; we noticed the ground personnel indicating for us to stop. At this point they had advised ATC to notify us as well. After conferring with ops and on-board maintenance personnel; we taxied back to the gate without further incident. Once we had deplaned; we talked to the ground handlers about the situation. We became aware that he was uncomfortable with the pushback and tried to relay this information to the lead marshaller. He also told us that the 737 was parked approximately 10 feet short of its parking line which would have made our center line for taxi out essentially useless.[Suggestion] better trained marshallers. There also should be a way for our ground guys to communicate with the marshallers and push crew. Hand held radios or something.

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.