Narrative:

At night; raining; and windy received pushback clearance for nose west from ramp control. As we started pushback; there was an abrupt stop. The man on the headset said we had just missed by 10 feet hitting an aircraft passing by. When we contacted ramp control to ask why we had not been advised of traffic; the reply was 'that's what wing-walkers are for.' the man on the headset said he had lost sight of the wing walkers when they got behind the engine. He said his supervisor was pushing for on time. It seems ramp control chooses not to take responsibility to advice on pushback of crossing; conflicting traffic; and believes that responsibility lies with wing walkers. It seems the pushback crew does not understand if they lose sight of their wing walkers to stop the push until line of sight can be re-established. It seems their priority was simply pleasing their supervisor with on time performance. Provide ground crew with higher level of safety training. Clearly delineate the responsibility of ramp control in terms of pushback clearances.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A330 Captain reports conflict with a taxiing aircraft during pushback; requiring an abrupt stop by the pushback crew. The tug driver had lost sight of the wing walkers and ramp control did not advise of the conflict.

Narrative: At night; raining; and windy received pushback clearance for nose west from Ramp Control. As we started pushback; there was an abrupt stop. The man on the headset said we had just missed by 10 feet hitting an aircraft passing by. When we contacted Ramp Control to ask why we had not been advised of traffic; the reply was 'that's what wing-walkers are for.' The man on the headset said he had lost sight of the wing walkers when they got behind the engine. He said his supervisor was pushing for on time. It seems Ramp Control chooses not to take responsibility to advice on pushback of crossing; conflicting traffic; and believes that responsibility lies with wing walkers. It seems the pushback crew does not understand if they lose sight of their wing walkers to stop the push until line of sight can be re-established. It seems their priority was simply pleasing their supervisor with on time performance. Provide ground crew with higher level of safety training. Clearly delineate the responsibility of Ramp Control in terms of pushback clearances.

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.