An A319 had to use reverse thrust to stop when parking due to nil braking.

Attributes
ACN	863491
Time
Date	200912
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	DSM.Airport
State Reference	IA
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A319
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 85 Flight Crew Total 10100 Flight Crew Type 1700
Person 2
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 240 Flight Crew Total 9200 Flight Crew Type 6400
Events
Anomaly	Ground Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control

Narrative:

After landing on runway 31 and clearing at the end we taxied to our gate with no radio contact with operations. The weather was light snow with light winds. The ramp was covered with two to three inches of blowing snow but the ramp crew had swept the lead in line. Both engines running with engine anti-ice on and aircraft was very light only 20 passengers on board. Airplane weight was approximately 109;000lbs. As we slowly approached the gate we were guided to a stop when the aircraft continued to move forward due to nil or poor braking. I had to make a split second decision and utilized reverse thrust 2 times to bring the airplane to a stop to avoid hitting the jetway with the left wing. Had we been notified of less than medium braking action I would have elected to shut down the engines and request tow in to the gate. No damage occurred.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An A319 had to use reverse thrust to stop when parking due to nil braking.

Narrative: After landing on runway 31 and clearing at the end we taxied to our gate with no radio contact with operations. The weather was light snow with light winds. The ramp was covered with two to three inches of blowing snow but the ramp crew had swept the lead in line. Both engines running with engine anti-ice on and aircraft was very light only 20 passengers on board. Airplane weight was approximately 109;000lbs. As we slowly approached the gate we were guided to a stop when the aircraft continued to move forward due to Nil or poor braking. I had to make a split second decision and utilized reverse thrust 2 times to bring the airplane to a stop to avoid hitting the jetway with the left wing. Had we been notified of less than medium braking action I would have elected to shut down the engines and request tow in to the gate. No damage occurred.

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.