Narrative:

After being given clearance to push from lax gate onto taxiway; tail west; our pushback crew had barely moved the aircraft back when they began to swing the tail southward. When the tail was pointed directly southward the first officer commented that we seemed much closer to the terminal than normal. I looked over my left shoulder and could see a B-787 parked at [an adjacent] gate and contacted the push crew to confirm that our wing tip was going to clear the wing tip of the 787. The push crew stopped the aircraft and stated that they needed to pull the aircraft forward back into the gate. The second attempt was better than the first but I again queried the push crew about our position in relation to the alleyway centerline since the main gear did not appear to be straddling the centerline and the nose of the aircraft was 30 or so feet west of the centerline as the tail pointed directly south. Apparently a wing walker signaled the push crew that we were clear since the pushback continued but I don't know that for sure. As we proceeded on to taxiway the aircraft appeared to be centered on the taxiway centerline and it looked like the push crew had gotten things under control. Substantially prior to where we would normally come to a stop the nose swung slowly but noticeably to the north and the aircraft came to a stop with the nose wheel turned hard. The push crew asked if they could pull the aircraft forward. I stated that the aircraft needed to be pushed further back to the west to the normal stopping position. While the push crew sat idle for time trying to figure out what to do to position the aircraft I noticed out of my peripheral vision that one of our B-737's was moving very rapidly under tow from the middle of the alleyway. The push crew decided to pull the aircraft forward and I told them to stop immediately. Just as they stopped the wing tip of the rapidly moving 737 tow passed no more than 10 feet from the nose of our aircraft. The push crew started to move the aircraft forward when I shouted stop into the interphone. Once the 737 cleared we confirmed with ground control that it was ok to pull the aircraft forward and that the push crew was having a very difficult time controlling the aircraft. Ground control finally noticed our difficulty and stated that we could pull the aircraft forward; east on taxiway C and straighten it out anywhere we could.this was without a doubt the worst pushback in my entire years at [company]. I contacted ramp control and requested that a supervisor speak with the push crew about this horrendous push that nearly resulted in bent metal not once but twice. The ramp controller stated that training was being done.in my opinion not only should the push trainee not be allowed to touch a pushback tug again but neither should the trainer. The trainer allowed the push to twice continue beyond a safe point and also moved the aircraft when he had been directed to stop. The driver of the tug towing the 737 also needs training. He was towing the aircraft at way too fast a speed given the proximity of our aircraft. There is no possible way he could have determined that adequate wing tip to nose clearance was available for him to pass. In fact; I seriously doubt that he even saw our aircraft based on the fact that he never even slowed down as he passed.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B777 Captain reported his aircraft was pushed back at LAX in a manner that he considered unsafe and posed a collision risk.

Narrative: After being given clearance to push from LAX gate onto taxiway; tail west; our pushback crew had barely moved the aircraft back when they began to swing the tail southward. When the tail was pointed directly southward the first officer commented that we seemed much closer to the terminal than normal. I looked over my left shoulder and could see a B-787 parked at [an adjacent] gate and contacted the push crew to confirm that our wing tip was going to clear the wing tip of the 787. The push crew stopped the aircraft and stated that they needed to pull the aircraft forward back into the gate. The second attempt was better than the first but I again queried the push crew about our position in relation to the alleyway centerline since the main gear did not appear to be straddling the centerline and the nose of the aircraft was 30 or so feet west of the centerline as the tail pointed directly south. Apparently a wing walker signaled the push crew that we were clear since the pushback continued but I don't know that for sure. As we proceeded on to taxiway the aircraft appeared to be centered on the taxiway centerline and it looked like the push crew had gotten things under control. Substantially prior to where we would normally come to a stop the nose swung slowly but noticeably to the north and the aircraft came to a stop with the nose wheel turned hard. The push crew asked if they could pull the aircraft forward. I stated that the aircraft needed to be pushed further back to the west to the normal stopping position. While the push crew sat idle for time trying to figure out what to do to position the aircraft I noticed out of my peripheral vision that one of our B-737's was moving very rapidly under tow from the middle of the alleyway. The push crew decided to pull the aircraft forward and I told them to stop immediately. Just as they stopped the wing tip of the rapidly moving 737 tow passed no more than 10 feet from the nose of our aircraft. The push crew started to move the aircraft forward when I shouted stop into the interphone. Once the 737 cleared we confirmed with ground control that it was OK to pull the aircraft forward and that the push crew was having a very difficult time controlling the aircraft. Ground control finally noticed our difficulty and stated that we could pull the aircraft forward; east on taxiway C and straighten it out anywhere we could.This was without a doubt the worst pushback in my entire years at [Company]. I contacted ramp control and requested that a supervisor speak with the push crew about this horrendous push that nearly resulted in bent metal not once but twice. The ramp controller stated that training was being done.In my opinion not only should the push trainee not be allowed to touch a pushback tug again but neither should the trainer. The trainer allowed the push to twice continue beyond a safe point and also moved the aircraft when he had been directed to stop. The driver of the tug towing the 737 also needs training. He was towing the aircraft at way too fast a speed given the proximity of our aircraft. There is no possible way he could have determined that adequate wing tip to nose clearance was available for him to pass. In fact; I seriously doubt that he even saw our aircraft based on the fact that he never even slowed down as he passed.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.