Make sure the pilot has set the park brake

[pelmet]

A long time ago, I used to be a baggage handler. I think I had my private pilot license at the time and liked working around airplanes. One of the things we did was to push back the aircraft. All aircraft were pushed back at this particular airport whether it was a Jetstream 31 or a 747. The easiest to push back were the biggest aircraft by the way. We even pushed back a Navajo one day by hand as we had no towbar for it.

Anyways, one of my dumber moves was while pushing back the Jetstream. I was the marshaller and after the push was completed, I gave the 'Set Brakes' signal to the captain. The pilots seemed to be busy in the cockpit and after a while, I foolishly assumed that he must have already set the brakes and proceeded to disconnect the towbar from the tug. Of course, the airplane started to move forward pushing the towbar along the tarmac ahead of it. The tug driver was now in reverse so that he could remain clear of the aircraft and I was walking backward waving my arms to get the attention of the captain who was still heads down.....until he saw me waving and the aircraft moving and jammed on the brakes. I doubt he was impressed although I never heard anything more about the incident.

I was reminded of that long ago incident when I was told that a mechanic in my company lost a leg(and almost his life) due to some sort of miscommunication with a towbar issue quite a few years ago. Not sure of all the details but it shows the critical importance of the ground crew ensuring the pilot has set the brakes at the appropriate time and whenever approaching the aircraft.

Not all details are known and there may have been specific details that required the brake to be released but this incident happened recently as well resulting in injury......

"C-FNNQ a Boeing B777-300 aircraft operated by Air Canada was conducting flight AC880 from
Charles de Gaulle (LFPG) Paris to Lester B. Pearson Intl (CYYZ) Toronto. During the push back at
LFPG, the tow bar fuse broke. The ground personnel agent tried to remove the tow bar, however
the aircraft moved forward and the tow bar hit the agent, who sustained serious injuries. There was
no damage to the aircraft. The Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyse pour la sécurité de l’aviation civile
(BEA) is investigating this accident."

Bottom line......as a ground crew, be slightly paranoid.

[Meecka]

Bottom line......as a ground crew, be slightly paranoid.

ALWAYS! If I see the head down- I don't approach. Simple as that. I've had a pilot tell me to pull the chocks, head went down, aircraft started to come forward (engines running).

[Big Pistons Forever]

For light aircraft don’t trust the park brake, especially the one on single engine Cessna’s

Even for the quick turns, put a set of chocks around the left main wheel.

[pelmet]

Bottom line......as a ground crew, be slightly paranoid.

ALWAYS! If I see the head down- I don't approach. Simple as that. I've had a pilot tell me to pull the chocks, head went down, aircraft started to come forward (engines running).

Pushbacks can be dangerous for groundcrew as well. For the jets, there was always one guy on the headset plugged into the aircraft near the nosegear.

We worked on most types but the 737 was by far the most frequent type. They sat quite close to the ground. But on the big jets, one could easily be under the aircraft during pushback. One(especially one hoping to fly these big jets some day) could be mesmerized by the airplane such as watching the gear or engine and not be watching the nosegear as they walked along during the pushback and have the nosegear come up and catch you from behind.

Someone might say don’t walk behind the nosegear but one could be to the side and aft of the nosegear and then the tug starts turning the aircraft swinging the nose gear to the side toward the headset guy. Especially risky if a headset with a short plug-in cord(the type used for the small jets) was used, placing you quite close to the nose gear.

[pelmet]

Another risk for groundcrew.....

C-FOBV, a float-equipped de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver aircraft operated by Sapawe Air Ltd., was
conducting a flight from Eva Lake (CKO2), ON to Cache Lake, ON. During taxi after landing, the
pilot shut down the engine and coasted to the dock. Upon docking, a Park Staff member assisted
in docking the floatplane without the request of the pilot. During docking, the attendant sustained a
serious injury between the left hand float cleat and the rope that was attached to the dock. The
attendant was taken to hospital.

[goingnowherefast]

I know a guy who got his leg stuck between the dock and the float trying to stop the plane. Result was a broken leg.

[Eric Janson]

"C-FNNQ a Boeing B777-300 aircraft operated by Air Canada was conducting flight AC880 from
Charles de Gaulle (LFPG) Paris to Lester B. Pearson Intl (CYYZ) Toronto. During the push back at
LFPG, the tow bar fuse broke. The ground personnel agent tried to remove the tow bar, however
the aircraft moved forward and the tow bar hit the agent, who sustained serious injuries. There was
no damage to the aircraft. The Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyse pour la sécurité de l’aviation civile
(BEA) is investigating this accident."

You can usually feel this happen in the cockpit - especially if you've had it happen before.

Correct procedure is to set the parking brake to stop the aircraft from potentially rolling forward. A switched on ground crew will immediately tell you to do this.

[pelmet]

"C-FNNQ a Boeing B777-300 aircraft operated by Air Canada was conducting flight AC880 from
Charles de Gaulle (LFPG) Paris to Lester B. Pearson Intl (CYYZ) Toronto. During the push back at
LFPG, the tow bar fuse broke. The ground personnel agent tried to remove the tow bar, however
the aircraft moved forward and the tow bar hit the agent, who sustained serious injuries. There was
no damage to the aircraft. The Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyse pour la sécurité de l’aviation civile
(BEA) is investigating this accident."

You can usually feel this happen in the cockpit - especially if you've had it happen before.

Correct procedure is to set the parking brake to stop the aircraft from potentially rolling forward. A switched on ground crew will immediately tell you to do this.

Set the park brake and then check the appropriate indicator to ensure that it is set. The Airbus(or at least some) has the triple indicator which now shows pressure. Other aircraft such as some Boeing’s have a message displayed. One might set the brake handle, verbalized it by saying ‘Park Brake On(or set)”, while pointing at the appropriate indication as confirmation that it is set. Then continue with the next thing you want the do such as telling the ground crew that the park brake is set.

Of course, what happened in this case is unknown.