Narrative:

I was waiting between gates for the arrival of the aircraft. Once it pulled into spot and engines shut down I proceeded to pull into position to engage the nose landing gear with the aircraft tug. After opening the cradle gates I pulled into the nose landing gear enough to close the cradle arms; but not pull the nose fully into the nose landing gear into the cradle. This is to prevent an accidental partial lifting of the aircraft due to the jet bridge attached to the aircraft and the ramp belt loaders and ramp personnel working around the aircraft. After in position I did a look around the area of the aircraft and I did not notice the tail stand installed on the aircraft tail. After the passengers and flight crew left the aircraft I pulled the jet bridge away from the aircraft and went inside and waited until the ramp personnel cleared the area. At this point in time after everyone left and the belt loaders and baggage carts were clear I proceeded to fully engage the aircraft and lift the nose in preparation to move the airplane. I noticed that there were some people congregating around the tail section. At this time the ramp manager approached me and notified me that the tail stand was in place and that I needed to notify my supervisor that there was an incident. I proceeded to inspect the tail stand. I did not see any damage nor did the tail stand make contact with the airframe. After a while I got permission to proceed to tow the aircraft.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Maintenance Technician reported lifting the nose of the aircraft with the tow cradle unaware that a tail stand had been installed.

Narrative: I was waiting between gates for the arrival of the aircraft. Once it pulled into spot and engines shut down I proceeded to pull into position to engage the nose landing gear with the aircraft tug. After opening the cradle gates I pulled into the nose landing gear enough to close the cradle arms; but not pull the nose fully into the nose landing gear into the cradle. This is to prevent an accidental partial lifting of the aircraft due to the jet bridge attached to the aircraft and the ramp belt loaders and ramp personnel working around the aircraft. After in position I did a look around the area of the aircraft and I did not notice the tail stand installed on the aircraft tail. After the passengers and flight crew left the aircraft I pulled the jet bridge away from the aircraft and went inside and waited until the ramp personnel cleared the area. At this point in time after everyone left and the belt loaders and baggage carts were clear I proceeded to fully engage the aircraft and lift the nose in preparation to move the airplane. I noticed that there were some people congregating around the tail section. At this time the ramp manager approached me and notified me that the tail stand was in place and that I needed to notify my supervisor that there was an incident. I proceeded to inspect the tail stand. I did not see any damage nor did the tail stand make contact with the airframe. After a while I got permission to proceed to tow the aircraft.

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.