Narrative:

During pushback from the gate; ground crew couldn't get the tow bar to disconnect from the airplane. They cleared us to start both engines during the push back. The captain chose to start #2 engine because we were light and had a long taxi. The captain explained to the first officer that the ground crew couldn't get the tow bar disconnected. The captain kept inquiring the push status and the situation but push crew kept ignoring the captain most of the time. Finally; push crew told the captain that they tried every way they could but still have no luck. The captain asked the push crew if they want us to shut down the engine but the push crew said no; they claimed that they will get the tow bar disconnect soon. The next thing the captain heard from the ground crew was 'release the parking brakes; release the parking brakes; release the parking brakes; we are in trouble down here'. The radio sounded very urgent and sounded like somebody was getting killed down below. The captain released the parking brakes and kept watching and saw the airplane started to roll forward a few inches. The captain tried to get the push crew to respond but got nothing so the captain reset the parking brakes right away. The airplane had rolled only a few inches forward on top of the tow bar. The airport personnel came to take photos and make records of the issue and found out that the push crew had put the screw in the tow bar; that was why they couldn't disconnect it from the airplane. No damage to the airplane or ground personnel. This issue needs to be addressed because they cannot make this kind of mistake again.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737 Captain reported that a pushback crew improperly installed the tow bar pin in such a way as to make it very difficult to disconnect.

Narrative: During pushback from the gate; ground crew couldn't get the tow bar to disconnect from the airplane. They cleared us to start both engines during the push back. The Captain chose to start #2 engine because we were light and had a long taxi. The Captain explained to the First Officer that the ground crew couldn't get the tow bar disconnected. The Captain kept inquiring the push status and the situation but push crew kept ignoring the Captain most of the time. Finally; push crew told the Captain that they tried every way they could but still have no luck. The Captain asked the push crew if they want us to shut down the engine but the push crew said no; they claimed that they will get the tow bar disconnect soon. The next thing the Captain heard from the ground crew was 'Release the parking brakes; Release the parking brakes; Release the parking brakes; we are in trouble down here'. The radio sounded very urgent and sounded like somebody was getting killed down below. The Captain released the parking brakes and kept watching and saw the airplane started to roll forward a few inches. The Captain tried to get the push crew to respond but got nothing so the Captain reset the parking brakes right away. The airplane had rolled only a few inches forward on top of the tow bar. The airport personnel came to take photos and make records of the issue and found out that the push crew had put the screw in the tow bar; that was why they couldn't disconnect it from the airplane. No damage to the airplane or ground personnel. This issue needs to be addressed because they cannot make this kind of mistake again.

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.