Narrative:

We hooked up the lektro tractor about 15 minutes before departure. I personally put the strap around the chrome on the nose wheel and hooked it to the pawl adapter. During pushback I was wing walking on the captain's side of the aircraft. Once pushback was completed; I was holding the 'X' up with my wands in front of the airplane. The other wing walker was having trouble removing the strap. Upon my investigation; I discovered that the strut had rested/settled on the strap and there was not enough room between the strut and wheel assembly to remove the strap. With the help of a mechanic; we removed the red sleeve on the rj tow strap allowing adequate clearance for the strap to be removed. This process took about 15 minutes from the completion of pushback. There was no damage to the gear; and the airplane taxied away on schedule for the most part; showing 6 minutes early once airborne. In my honest opinion one of two things contributed to this incident. The aircraft was weight restricted; and the payload was pushing the limits of the airplane. The strut was showing approx. 6-8 inches of chrome on the strut when the lektro was attached. After pushback; only about 1 inch of chrome was showing. It's possible the payload compressed the strut on the strap after it was hooked up. Upon completion of pushback; the other wing walker was responsible for unhooking the lektro. It's my belief they lowered the lift of the lektro prior to removing the pawl adapter from the strap; thus putting pressure on the strap possibly causing the strap to become caught.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Ramp Agent reported that during push-back of an airliner; the nose landing gear strut compressed and settled down onto the towing strap making it difficult to disconnect it from the tow vehicle.

Narrative: We hooked up the Lektro tractor about 15 minutes before departure. I personally put the strap around the chrome on the nose wheel and hooked it to the Pawl adapter. During pushback I was wing walking on the Captain's side of the aircraft. Once Pushback was completed; I was holding the 'X' up with my wands in front of the airplane. The other wing walker was having trouble removing the strap. Upon my investigation; I discovered that the strut had rested/settled on the strap and there was not enough room between the strut and wheel assembly to remove the strap. With the help of a mechanic; we removed the red sleeve on the RJ tow strap allowing adequate clearance for the strap to be removed. This process took about 15 minutes from the completion of pushback. There was no damage to the gear; and the airplane taxied away on schedule for the most part; showing 6 minutes early once airborne. In my honest opinion one of two things contributed to this incident. The aircraft was weight restricted; and the payload was pushing the limits of the airplane. The strut was showing approx. 6-8 inches of chrome on the strut when the Lektro was attached. After pushback; only about 1 inch of chrome was showing. It's possible the payload compressed the strut on the strap after it was hooked up. Upon completion of pushback; the other wing walker was responsible for unhooking the Lektro. It's my belief they lowered the lift of the Lektro prior to removing the Pawl adapter from the strap; thus putting pressure on the strap possibly causing the strap to become caught.

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.