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A320 first officer reported an improper pushback procedure conducted by the ground personnel.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1531653 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201803 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0601-1200 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | A321 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Taxi |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | First Officer Pilot Not Flying |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown |
Narrative:
We pushed back with tail east in ZZZ. We could tell training was going on in the tug. The captain even made a PA saying sorry for the rough push back which is extremely rare. We were cocked off to the side of the yellow taxi line when they said push back was complete and to set brakes. We complied and heard banging on the tow bar for longer than normal. Finally the tug driver said they wanted to pull us forward so we released brakes on their signal. The tug was at a 45 angle on the right side of the plane. They pulled us forward and it was real jerky. Over the radio we heard them say 'oh shoot!' the captain immediately set the brakes. The tone was different than anything I've heard on the radio before. The expression in the rampers faces were our only indicator that we needed to stop. They never told us to stop the aircraft. The captain did a great job of taking the nonverbal communications and stopping the aircraft before we hit the tug or a wing walker.[company] outsources all ground operations to the lowest bidder. The subcontractors don't pay their people enough for them to endure the tough environment of the ramp. Consequently they have high turnover and we are regularly involved in a training situation with higher than normal threats to the operation. As far as this particular instance; this crew should of taken a time out and got someone with experience to help and made sure the tug and tow bar was safe for moving.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: A320 First Officer reported an improper pushback procedure conducted by the ground personnel.
Narrative: We pushed back with tail east in ZZZ. We could tell training was going on in the tug. The Captain even made a PA saying sorry for the rough push back which is extremely rare. We were cocked off to the side of the yellow taxi line when they said push back was complete and to set brakes. We complied and heard banging on the tow bar for longer than normal. Finally the tug driver said they wanted to pull us forward so we released brakes on their signal. The tug was at a 45 angle on the right side of the plane. They pulled us forward and it was real jerky. Over the radio we heard them say 'oh shoot!' The captain immediately set the brakes. The tone was different than anything I've heard on the radio before. The expression in the rampers faces were our only indicator that we needed to stop. They never told us to stop the aircraft. The captain did a great job of taking the nonverbal communications and stopping the aircraft before we hit the tug or a wing walker.[Company] outsources all ground operations to the lowest bidder. The subcontractors don't pay their people enough for them to endure the tough environment of the ramp. Consequently they have high turnover and we are regularly involved in a training situation with higher than normal threats to the operation. As far as this particular instance; this crew should of taken a time out and got someone with experience to help and made sure the tug and tow bar was safe for moving.
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.