Narrative:

Upon arrival at the gate we stopped short as directed by the three ground crew members all holding up a stop X with their wands. Shortly thereafter we saw the jetway move back away from the taxi-in line to a new position that looked to be a normal jetway parking spot from our view. After it stopped moving I proceeded to follow the direction of the forward marshaller to park the aircraft. During the final phase of parking; after passing the jetway out my window and moving at approximately 2 mph; the first officer and I felt as if we may have ran over something small with the nose tire. Just following that small aircraft movement the marshaller rapidly moved his wands to the stop signal. I immediately stopped the aircraft and set the parking brake looking to the marshaller for an indication as to what just happened. We had the left engine running and APU off at this time anticipating ground power to be used. The marshaller did not look me in the eye or give any indication as to what had happened other than continuing to hold up the X while looking around the jetway area and left side of the aircraft.I then started the APU and opened the left window to see that the jetway was abnormally close to the wing. I overheard that the aircraft had made contact with the jetway and maintenance had been contacted. I was surprised to learn that it was the engine that made contact with the jetway and I never received a signal to shut down the engine. I then made a passenger announcement that we were waiting for maintenance to come aid us in repositioning the jetway with the aircraft door. After maintenance took some pictures and evaluated the damage; the jetway was raised above the engine and positioned to the main door for unloading. After exiting the cockpit to evaluate the damage I ask the agent driving the jetway how he determines where to park the jetway. His reply was that he relies on the ground crew to guide him. I then went outside and discovered that there were two punctures in the top of the left engine nacelle. One on the very top of the engine was caused from a cylindrical piece of metal with wires extending from the bottom of the jetway. The other puncture point was on the top right portion of the engine cowling and looked to come from the lower frame of the jetway. There were no injuries or passenger issues with the incident and we deplaned within 10 minutes of our scheduled arrival. The airport authorities came out and ask my name; flight number; aircraft type; and contact information. I gave them the company phone number and said I could be reached through my chief pilot if they needed any other information. At that point I called dispatch and maintenance control to inform them of the incident. I believe there should be an SOP communication that the jetway is parked in a safe position for aircraft entry to a parking spot. It may help to always confirm the jetway is set in the proper spot for each aircraft type to enter the gate. Every airport seems to have a different procedure for where jetways are parked prior to aircraft entry. Also; a way to verify from the cockpit that the jetway is parked a standard location for each aircraft type could help prevent this. Someone outside the aircraft should have view of the forward part of the left wing as it approached the jetway and be able to directly communicate with the forward marshaller to stop the aircraft movement if needed.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An ERJ struck a jetway while being marshaled into a gate despite the presence of three guidemen and a pre-emptory repositioning of the jetway as the aircraft approached.

Narrative: Upon arrival at the gate we stopped short as directed by the three ground crew members all holding up a stop X with their wands. Shortly thereafter we saw the jetway move back away from the taxi-in line to a new position that looked to be a normal jetway parking spot from our view. After it stopped moving I proceeded to follow the direction of the forward marshaller to park the aircraft. During the final phase of parking; after passing the jetway out my window and moving at approximately 2 MPH; the First Officer and I felt as if we may have ran over something small with the nose tire. Just following that small aircraft movement the marshaller rapidly moved his wands to the stop signal. I immediately stopped the aircraft and set the parking brake looking to the marshaller for an indication as to what just happened. We had the left engine running and APU off at this time anticipating ground power to be used. The marshaller did not look me in the eye or give any indication as to what had happened other than continuing to hold up the X while looking around the jetway area and left side of the aircraft.I then started the APU and opened the left window to see that the jetway was abnormally close to the wing. I overheard that the aircraft had made contact with the jetway and maintenance had been contacted. I was surprised to learn that it was the engine that made contact with the jetway and I never received a signal to shut down the engine. I then made a passenger announcement that we were waiting for maintenance to come aid us in repositioning the jetway with the aircraft door. After maintenance took some pictures and evaluated the damage; the jetway was raised above the engine and positioned to the main door for unloading. After exiting the cockpit to evaluate the damage I ask the agent driving the jetway how he determines where to park the jetway. His reply was that he relies on the ground crew to guide him. I then went outside and discovered that there were two punctures in the top of the left engine nacelle. One on the very top of the engine was caused from a cylindrical piece of metal with wires extending from the bottom of the jetway. The other puncture point was on the top right portion of the engine cowling and looked to come from the lower frame of the jetway. There were no injuries or passenger issues with the incident and we deplaned within 10 minutes of our scheduled arrival. The airport authorities came out and ask my name; flight number; aircraft type; and contact information. I gave them the company phone number and said I could be reached through my Chief Pilot if they needed any other information. At that point I called Dispatch and Maintenance Control to inform them of the incident. I believe there should be an SOP communication that the jetway is parked in a safe position for aircraft entry to a parking spot. It may help to always confirm the jetway is set in the proper spot for each aircraft type to enter the gate. Every airport seems to have a different procedure for where jetways are parked prior to aircraft entry. Also; a way to verify from the cockpit that the jetway is parked a standard location for each aircraft type could help prevent this. Someone outside the aircraft should have view of the forward part of the left wing as it approached the jetway and be able to directly communicate with the forward marshaller to stop the aircraft movement if needed.

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.