B757 captain reports strange popping noises and a long period of silence from the ground crew during...

Narrative:

During what seemed like a smooth push I heard a popping noise. Push continued but the driver stopped just outside of the service road. I would not have been able to turn the aircraft to leave the gate. I questioned the driver. He said that there may be an issue with the tow bar. The tug and tow bar were still hooked up as far as I knew. Then it seemed like he left. At that point I did feel the aircraft move forward. Not knowing where the tug driver was; I asked over the headset 'do you need the brakes set?' finally he answered yes. After that the wing walker hooked up said you're ready to go pins are out. Again; I said 'I need to be pushed back further'. Things got quiet again then the tug driver said the ramp boss would need to check for any damage. At that point we called maintenance and went back to the gate for a new aircraft.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B757 Captain reports strange popping noises and a long period of silence from the ground crew during pushback. Aircraft is eventually towed back to the gate and the aircraft taken out of service.

Narrative: During what seemed like a smooth push I heard a popping noise. Push continued but the driver stopped just outside of the service road. I would not have been able to turn the aircraft to leave the gate. I questioned the Driver. He said that there may be an issue with the tow bar. The tug and tow bar were still hooked up as far as I knew. Then it seemed like he left. At that point I did feel the aircraft move forward. Not knowing where the Tug Driver was; I asked over the headset 'do you need the brakes set?' Finally he answered yes. After that the Wing Walker hooked up said you're ready to go pins are out. Again; I said 'I need to be pushed back further'. Things got quiet again then the Tug Driver said the Ramp Boss would need to check for any damage. At that point we called Maintenance and went back to the gate for a new aircraft.

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.

Attributes
ACN	854517
Time
Date	200910
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B757-200
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 240 Flight Crew Total 18000 Flight Crew Type 10000
Events
Anomaly	Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown

B757 captain reports strange popping noises and a long period of silence from the ground crew during pushback. Aircraft is eventually towed back to the gate and the aircraft taken out of service.