Narrative:

Taxiing into the gate the marshaller guided the aircraft into an extremely tight turn. We were approximately 5 KTS ground speed entering the turn. We were taxied beyond the turn in line which caused the turn to be so tight that the aircraft slowed to almost a dead stop. This also caused the jet blast to be directed closer to the line of 'cans' positioned directly behind the aircraft. I added power to approximately 40%. After about half a turn the wing walker signaled a stop. We retarded the throttles to idle and came to a dead stop. At this time the first officer called operations and asked that the area around us be cleared so we could continue to taxi. We had been directed to taxi so close to the ground equipment that it had to be moved in order to continue the taxi. The lead marshaller never signaled a stop and the mechanic had to take over the marshalling after the equipment was moved. We were positioned significantly right of the taxi in line which directed our jet blast towards the 'cans' positioned approximately 100 ft directly behind the aircraft. Two 'cans' that were positioned directly behind the aircraft and in close proximity to the tail were moved by the jet blast. One can was tossed off the dolly and damaged. This airport is an extremely tight taxiing environment. The cans are prepositioned too close to jet blast areas around the aircraft. They have recently moved the nose stop line back about 10 ft which gives the marshaller less time and space to properly position the aircraft. Most; if not all; aircraft are towed out of the 'gates' in this airport. Why is it unsafe to taxi out with a slight turn; but acceptable to make two 90 degree and one 60 degree turn to taxi in?

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Attempting to taxi into the gate in tight ramp quarters the widebody air carrier aircraft's jet blast moved two cargo 'cans'; damaging one.

Narrative: Taxiing into the gate the marshaller guided the aircraft into an extremely tight turn. We were approximately 5 KTS ground speed entering the turn. We were taxied beyond the turn in line which caused the turn to be so tight that the aircraft slowed to almost a dead stop. This also caused the jet blast to be directed closer to the line of 'cans' positioned directly behind the aircraft. I added power to approximately 40%. After about half a turn the wing walker signaled a stop. We retarded the throttles to idle and came to a dead stop. At this time the First Officer called Operations and asked that the area around us be cleared so we could continue to taxi. We had been directed to taxi so close to the ground equipment that it had to be moved in order to continue the taxi. The lead marshaller never signaled a stop and the mechanic had to take over the Marshalling after the equipment was moved. We were positioned significantly right of the taxi in line which directed our jet blast towards the 'cans' positioned approximately 100 FT directly behind the aircraft. Two 'cans' that were positioned directly behind the aircraft and in close proximity to the tail were moved by the jet blast. One can was tossed off the dolly and damaged. This airport is an extremely tight taxiing environment. The cans are prepositioned too close to jet blast areas around the aircraft. They have recently moved the nose stop line back about 10 FT which gives the marshaller less time and space to properly position the aircraft. Most; if not all; aircraft are towed out of the 'gates' in this airport. Why is it unsafe to taxi out with a slight turn; but acceptable to make two 90 degree and one 60 degree turn to taxi in?

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.