Narrative:

On taxi in to gate at dfw it was impossible to see the guide lines from either seat especially the captain seat looking right through the first officer's window. Our first and only indication was the docking guidance for this gate and it read correctly MD80 with the flashers to indicate taxi in. It gave all of the normal MD80 feedback. The problem was that it was leading me in on the wide-body line; something just did not look right. I stopped the aircraft. Finally a crew chief hooked up on head set and told me we were on the wrong line. I elected to shut down the engines and get a tow back and then in. A 757 had previously departed the gate; crew chief was upset and told me that this was a weekly event. In day VFR conditions; it might not be as bad. However; my first officer noted how close we were to the MD80 parked next to us. If I had continued to follow the dgs; we would have hit something. After tow in got us on the correct line; the dgs now said wait/fail? Crew chief was a witness to the fact that the dgs was giving correct information on the wrong line as was gate agent. This could be a very bad set up for any crew. That particular night was when we needed good information from the dgs. We did not get it. It led us down a dangerous primrose path that could have damaged at least two aircraft. Nothing did happen; but it could easily. This situation needs to be addressed immediately.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A MD80 pilot stopped his taxi into a DFW gate when he realized the automated parking guidance had aligned him on a wide body lead in line causing a conflict with the adjacent parked aircraft.

Narrative: On taxi in to gate at DFW it was impossible to see the guide lines from either seat especially the Captain seat looking right through the First Officer's window. Our first and only indication was the docking guidance for this gate and it read correctly MD80 with the flashers to indicate taxi in. It gave all of the normal MD80 feedback. The problem was that it was leading me in on the wide-body line; something just did not look right. I stopped the aircraft. Finally a crew chief hooked up on head set and told me we were on the wrong line. I elected to shut down the engines and get a tow back and then in. A 757 had previously departed the gate; crew chief was upset and told me that this was a weekly event. In day VFR conditions; it might not be as bad. However; my First Officer noted how close we were to the MD80 parked next to us. If I had continued to follow the DGS; we would have hit something. After tow in got us on the correct line; the DGS now said wait/fail? Crew chief was a witness to the fact that the DGS was giving correct information on the wrong line as was gate agent. This could be a very bad set up for any crew. That particular night was when we needed good information from the DGS. We did not get it. It led us down a dangerous primrose path that could have damaged at least two aircraft. Nothing did happen; but it could easily. This situation needs to be addressed immediately.

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.