Despite receiving the 'safe to taxi' sign from one ground crewman; an alert A320 flight crew refused...

Narrative:

During the push back with the parking brake set; the push crew gave me the [salute] with lit wands prior to the tug pulling out from under the plane. This was a late evening departure after flying a transcon followed by a two hour sit. My first officer and I were tired but alert and motivated to complete the flight. We had three wing walkers with lit wands including the lead marshaller. After the push was complete; I set the parking brake as instructed by the tug driver. The marshaller gave the crossed wand signal. The tug driver disconnected his headset and said good-bye. I looked up and immediately got the lowered wands at a 45 degree angle from the marshaller. I asked the copilot 'do you see the tug'; he said 'no.' we waited and then saw the tug pull out from under the plane all the while being given the cleared to taxi signal. The marshaller gave a quick wave of the wand and ran to the tug to catch a ride. I never had a chance to flash the taxi light. We could easily have taxied right over the tug had we followed the marshaller's instructions.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Despite receiving the 'safe to taxi' sign from one Ground Crewman; an alert A320 flight crew refused to taxi until they personally viewed the pushback tug back out from under their nose and depart.

Narrative: During the push back with the parking brake set; the push crew gave me the [salute] with lit wands prior to the tug pulling out from under the plane. This was a late evening departure after flying a transcon followed by a two hour sit. My First Officer and I were tired but alert and motivated to complete the flight. We had three wing walkers with lit wands including the Lead Marshaller. After the push was complete; I set the parking brake as instructed by the tug driver. The Marshaller gave the crossed wand signal. The tug driver disconnected his headset and said good-bye. I looked up and immediately got the lowered wands at a 45 degree angle from the Marshaller. I asked the copilot 'Do you see the tug'; he said 'No.' We waited and then saw the tug pull out from under the plane all the while being given the cleared to taxi signal. The Marshaller gave a quick wave of the wand and ran to the tug to catch a ride. I never had a chance to flash the taxi light. We could easily have taxied right over the tug had we followed the Marshaller's instructions.

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	983136
Time
Date	201112
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A320
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 200 Flight Crew Total 14000 Flight Crew Type 4000
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Ground Event / Encounter Vehicle

Despite receiving the 'safe to taxi' sign from one ground crewman; an alert A320 flight crew refused to taxi until they personally viewed the pushback tug back out from under their nose and depart.