Narrative:

Just prior to scheduled push back the ramp informed me that they had a change to the cargo report. I instructed them to add the 5 lb of freight to the fwd cargo bin and amend the clear on their copy and I will amend mine. I had released the brake because at the time we were about to get pushback clearance; but because we were adding cargo I told the ramp that I was going to reset the brake until we were actually ready to push. It took a long time to get push clearance about 15 min; because of traffic behind us in lga where ramp space is limited. There was a communication breakdown between myself and the pushback driver. I was confirming the spot and that traffic was clear behind us. Before I could give the full call out 'brakes off; steering is off cleared to push' he attempted to push us back with the brake set resulting in the shear pin on the tow bar to snap. It was cold out and beginning to rain; the ramp agent did not have his rain gear on (he had told us this while we were waiting) and was in a rush to get us out after sitting for so long to get clearance. He never verified or observed a green tow light and he did not verify with me prior to starting the push that I had released the brake. The ramp agent appeared to be new to the operation; maybe some advanced training in each aircraft type and its safety lighting. Better preparation on his part knowing that it was forecasted to rain on and off all day. Ramp agents sticking to canned pre-written terminology especially when clearance is being received or given.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: EMB-170 flight crew reported that the ground crew started to push the aircraft back prior to the Captain releasing the brakes.

Narrative: Just prior to scheduled push back the ramp informed me that they had a change to the cargo report. I instructed them to add the 5 lb of freight to the fwd cargo bin and amend the CLR on their copy and I will amend mine. I had released the brake because at the time we were about to get pushback clearance; but because we were adding cargo I told the ramp that I was going to reset the brake until we were actually ready to push. It took a long time to get push clearance about 15 min; because of traffic behind us in LGA where ramp space is limited. There was a communication breakdown between myself and the pushback driver. I was confirming the spot and that traffic was clear behind us. Before I could give the full call out 'brakes off; steering is off cleared to push' he attempted to push us back with the brake set resulting in the shear pin on the tow bar to snap. It was cold out and beginning to rain; the ramp agent did not have his rain gear on (he had told us this while we were waiting) and was in a rush to get us out after sitting for so long to get clearance. He never verified or observed a green tow light and he did not verify with me prior to starting the push that I had released the brake. The ramp agent appeared to be new to the operation; maybe some advanced training in each aircraft type and its safety lighting. Better preparation on his part knowing that it was forecasted to rain on and off all day. Ramp agents sticking to canned pre-written terminology especially when clearance is being received or given.

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.