Narrative:

During tow into gate; the cockpit crew was alerted by a loud crashing noise that the tow bar sheer pin had broke. I checked the hydraulic pumps were off and pulled the trigger to ensure nose wheel steering was disengaged. Looking out the window; I tried to raise the tug driver to see what happened; but couldn't cause either his headset wasn't working; or he wasn't wearing one. The tug driver signaled to set the brake; and I did. Suspecting a sheer pin failure; I had my first officer call maintenance to come check the nose gear in case the plane was going back out. In the debate that ensued between us and maintenance while the ramp agents walked around doing what I suspected was getting us a new tow bar; I saw one of the ramp agents jump in the air. I didn't feel any vibration nor see what happened next due to the darkness of the pad. We settled with maintenance to check the gear with a previous issue we had called in while taxiing to taxiway RA to enter the ramp. Then I noticed the jumping ramp agent limping over to the tug. Another tug drove her off; and we proceeded with another tow bar into the gate. Once at the gate; the gpu was connected; and the edl started cycling through relays; powering various systems off; and on. Thus; there may be an electrical issue that may have contributed to what happened as well that I couldn't see. It was late; I was going on 12hrs duty; and it was very dark.we had over an hour of ATC delays; and then an electrical issue that was generated when the APU was started at the gate. After another delay for maintenance (approx 45 additional min); we finally got out of the gate. The whole dep and arr to ewr rwy 4R was rushed per ATC direction to 'keep it fast'. Just prior to 10;000 ft; the flight attendant asked us to coordinate a wheelchair that had not been previously coordinated. This was also close to when we got the gate assignment. Thus; we were tight for time already. Visibility was marginal for the approach; and ATC was keeping us very busy. Once on the ground; there was a dispatch message that popped up that could be a threat to the next flight we were trying to coordinate with maintenance before we got to the ramp. The ramp was in a rush to get us up behind another plane going into the other tow in gate. Maintenance hassling us and we called maintenance about inspecting the nose gear. Ca was coming up on 12hrs duty (first officer was at about 10:30). Unfamiliarity with using tow in gates; since I see them once every couple years; and not being able to find the procedure in a timely manner to back up crew saving actions in preparation for the tow in (in back of QRH). Also; there were the missing; or inop headphones on the ramp. Disruption to trained flow in parking checklist. Also; this trip was the ca's first day back from two weeks of oji.I should have verified the EICAS message for steering inop. I'm unsure if this message was present the first time I pulled the trigger. This may have not ever disabled the NWS due to background electrical issues that caused the maintenance issue in ZZZ1; the no dispatch message after landing in ewr; and the edl response to the gpu at the gate. There was no bell when I pulled the trigger the second time though; which audibly indicates the state change. I shall not assume this anymore; however.looking for the tow-in guidance enroute would also have helped. That didn't happen this time due to the workload of departing and preparing for arrival to ewr; and the short duration flight; complicated by ewr landing to the north which greatly decreased the amount of time to get ready for the next leg. Stopping prior to getting to the ramp; or getting a place to park and sort things out will help next time as well. I should also have paused the tow-in till the guidance was found and completed. Especially so since I was approaching 12 hrs duty already; and beginning to demonstrate fatigue.slight modification; and adding a line-break to the parking checklist for tow-in gatearrivals would simplify prep for tow-in gates; and make the procedure much more readily available (like the diversion report check that was in the old checklist) for those crews that don't frequent airports with such gates.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: EMB-145 Captain reported a tow bar shear pin failure during tow into the gate.

Narrative: During tow into gate; The cockpit crew was alerted by a loud crashing noise that the tow bar sheer pin had broke. I checked the hydraulic pumps were off and pulled the trigger to ensure nose wheel steering was disengaged. Looking out the window; I tried to raise the tug driver to see what happened; but couldn't cause either his headset wasn't working; or he wasn't wearing one. The tug driver signaled to set the brake; and I did. Suspecting a sheer pin failure; I had my FO call maintenance to come check the nose gear in case the plane was going back out. In the debate that ensued between us and maintenance while the ramp agents walked around doing what I suspected was getting us a new tow bar; I saw one of the ramp agents jump in the air. I didn't feel any vibration nor see what happened next due to the darkness of the pad. We settled with maintenance to check the gear with a previous issue we had called in while taxiing to taxiway RA to enter the ramp. Then I noticed the jumping ramp agent limping over to the tug. Another tug drove her off; and we proceeded with another tow bar into the gate. Once at the gate; the GPU was connected; and the EDL started cycling through relays; powering various systems off; and on. Thus; there may be an electrical issue that may have contributed to what happened as well that I couldn't see. It was late; I was going on 12hrs duty; and it was very dark.We had over an hour of ATC delays; and then an electrical issue that was generated when the APU was started at the gate. After another delay for maintenance (approx 45 additional min); we finally got out of the gate. The whole dep and arr to EWR Rwy 4R was rushed per ATC direction to 'keep it fast'. Just prior to 10;000 ft; the flight attendant asked us to coordinate a wheelchair that had not been previously coordinated. This was also close to when we got the Gate assignment. Thus; we were tight for time already. Visibility was marginal for the approach; and ATC was keeping us very busy. Once on the ground; there was a Dispatch message that popped up that could be a threat to the next flight we were trying to coordinate with maintenance before we got to the ramp. The ramp was in a rush to get us up behind another plane going into the other tow in gate. Maintenance hassling us and we called maintenance about inspecting the nose gear. CA was coming up on 12hrs duty (FO was at about 10:30). Unfamiliarity with using tow in gates; since I see them once every couple years; and not being able to find the procedure in a timely manner to back up crew saving actions in preparation for the tow in (in back of QRH). Also; there were the missing; or inop headphones on the ramp. Disruption to trained flow in parking checklist. Also; this trip was the CA's first day back from two weeks of OJI.I should have verified the EICAS message for steering inop. I'm unsure if this message was present the first time I pulled the trigger. This may have not ever disabled the NWS due to background electrical issues that caused the maintenance issue in ZZZ1; the no dispatch message after landing in EWR; and the EDL response to the GPU at the gate. There was no bell when I pulled the trigger the second time though; which audibly indicates the state change. I shall not assume this anymore; however.Looking for the tow-in guidance enroute would also have helped. That didn't happen this time due to the workload of departing and preparing for arrival to EWR; and the short duration flight; complicated by EWR landing to the north which greatly decreased the amount of time to get ready for the next leg. Stopping prior to getting to the ramp; or getting a place to park and sort things out will help next time as well. I should also have paused the tow-in till the guidance was found and completed. Especially so since I was approaching 12 hrs duty already; and beginning to demonstrate fatigue.Slight modification; and adding a line-break to the Parking Checklist for tow-in gatearrivals would simplify prep for tow-in gates; and make the procedure much more readily available (like the diversion report check that was in the old checklist) for those crews that don't frequent airports with such gates.

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.