Narrative:

Our aircraft push crew commenced pushback. At the time of push both the captain and myself were unaware that the push crew was short one person (only one wing walker). The aircraft came to a sudden and abrupt stop during the push and the tug driver became noticeable upset; threw his headset down and jumped off of the tug. It was at this time we were informed that we nearly were pushed into aircraft Y that had recently pushed off of the gate next to us. The tow crew moved us to a spot next to them and let us know we had not contacted another aircraft; ramp equipment; or any other objects. Also; at this time we were informed that they had pushed us back shorthanded. Upon learning this the captain contacted operations at tys where the ramp crew member on the other end was rude; standoffish; and non-apologetic about their mistake. In his words 'don't tell us how to do our job; it's not our fault; we are trying to get a mainline flight out.' while we were on the taxiway out to the runway ground control contacted us and told us aircraft Y would like to speak to us. At this time I contacted them on the second radio and told us just how close we had come to contacting them. They said that on push our left engine had come about 2 feet from the first officer side window; and then the wingtip was moved about 8-10 feet from the nosecone. We did not end up with an incident or accident but only by a narrow margin.the ground crew at tys needs to be retrained and if they cannot provide each aircraft with the necessary 3 crew members then they should hire more employees. It appears that an on time departure took precedence over safety and procedure.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier flight crew reported being pushed back with only 1 wing walker which nearly led to a collision with another aircraft.

Narrative: Our aircraft push crew commenced pushback. At the time of push both the Captain and myself were unaware that the push crew was short one person (only one wing walker). The aircraft came to a sudden and abrupt stop during the push and the tug driver became noticeable upset; threw his headset down and jumped off of the tug. It was at this time we were informed that we nearly were pushed into Aircraft Y that had recently pushed off of the gate next to us. The tow crew moved us to a spot next to them and let us know we had not contacted another aircraft; ramp equipment; or any other objects. Also; at this time we were informed that they had pushed us back shorthanded. Upon learning this the Captain contacted operations at TYS where the ramp crew member on the other end was rude; standoffish; and non-apologetic about their mistake. In his words 'don't tell us how to do our job; it's not our fault; we are trying to get a mainline flight out.' While we were on the taxiway out to the runway ground control contacted us and told us Aircraft Y would like to speak to us. At this time I contacted them on the second radio and told us just how close we had come to contacting them. They said that on push our left engine had come about 2 feet from the FO side window; and then the wingtip was moved about 8-10 feet from the nosecone. We did not end up with an incident or accident but only by a narrow margin.The ground crew at TYS needs to be retrained and if they cannot provide each aircraft with the necessary 3 crew members then they should hire more employees. It appears that an on time departure took precedence over safety and procedure.

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.