Narrative:

Our aircraft was parked at gate a; terminal M; at jfk. When we called for pushback from the ramp tower; they advised us to contact jfk ground control. Due to gate location; the aircraft normally has to push back through taxiway X and onto taxiway Y ground control advised they could not approve due to an inbound inflight emergency. Upon relay of that message to the ramp tower; they asked us to ask the ground pushback crew if they felt comfortable pushing the aircraft from gate a over to taxiway Z and make us the #2 aircraft behind another aircraft holding on taxiway Z short of taxiway Y. The pushback crew told us that was no problem and we initiated the pushback/start checklist. The aircraft was pushed back counterclockwise until the nose faced out of taxiway X; then proceeded to push straight back tail first toward taxiway Z. After about 100 ft the aircraft lurched to the left a few feet and the aircraft was brought to an immediate stop by the tug driver. I asked what was going on and he informed us of the bad news that our right wing winglet had contacted the left horizontal stabilizer of an aircraft parked at gate C. I set the parking brakes and then called the ramp tower requesting a safety supervisor and a ramp supervisor was on the scene within a few minutes. After some assessment by the supervisor and maintenance; the aircraft was pulled into gate Z and the flight cancelled. I then made all the notifications to the company through the duty pilot. Looking back at it; when the ramp tower asked us to ask the ground crew if they were comfortable moving the aircraft over to taxiway Z; it was unusual and I should have queried. We were going to be early and it was unnecessary from a time perspective. Gates B and a at terminal M at jfk are always awkward to get in and out of -- poor design. Secondly; someone obviously wasn't paying attention on the push; either the tug driver; the wing walker; or both. The cockpit crew cannot see what is behind us and in fact do not even have excellent vision of the wings from the cockpit. Thirdly; there were distractions due to emergency vehicles with flashing lights driving in the area to position themselves for the inbound inflight emergency at night at a busy airport.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: As a JFK air carrier ground crew pushed an aircraft from its gate; a wing tip struck the horizontal stabilizer of an aircraft on the same terminal. The alleyway was very wide where both aircraft were located.

Narrative: Our aircraft was parked at Gate A; Terminal M; at JFK. When we called for pushback from the Ramp Tower; they advised us to contact JFK Ground Control. Due to gate location; the aircraft normally has to push back through Taxiway X and onto Taxiway Y Ground Control advised they could not approve due to an inbound inflight emergency. Upon relay of that message to the Ramp Tower; they asked us to ask the ground pushback crew if they felt comfortable pushing the aircraft from Gate A over to Taxiway Z and make us the #2 aircraft behind another aircraft holding on Taxiway Z short of Taxiway Y. The pushback crew told us that was no problem and we initiated the Pushback/Start checklist. The aircraft was pushed back counterclockwise until the nose faced out of Taxiway X; then proceeded to push straight back tail first toward Taxiway Z. After about 100 FT the aircraft lurched to the left a few feet and the aircraft was brought to an immediate stop by the tug driver. I asked what was going on and he informed us of the bad news that our right wing winglet had contacted the left horizontal stabilizer of an aircraft parked at Gate C. I set the parking brakes and then called the Ramp Tower requesting a Safety Supervisor and a Ramp Supervisor was on the scene within a few minutes. After some assessment by the Supervisor and Maintenance; the aircraft was pulled into Gate Z and the flight cancelled. I then made all the notifications to the company through the Duty Pilot. Looking back at it; when the Ramp Tower asked us to ask the Ground Crew if they were comfortable moving the aircraft over to Taxiway Z; it was unusual and I should have queried. We were going to be early and it was unnecessary from a time perspective. Gates B and A at Terminal M at JFK are always awkward to get in and out of -- poor design. Secondly; someone obviously wasn't paying attention on the push; either the Tug Driver; the Wing Walker; or both. The cockpit crew cannot see what is behind us and in fact do not even have excellent vision of the wings from the cockpit. Thirdly; there were distractions due to emergency vehicles with flashing lights driving in the area to position themselves for the inbound inflight emergency at night at a busy airport.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.