Narrative:

During training of a new move team member we were asked to take aircraft X from [the] gate to remote parking area. We had just finished turning the APU off; released the brakes and closed the cabin door. The trainee went to the move tug which he had already captured the aircraft; but needed to raise the front nose gear off the ground. While the trainee was in the tug I removed the chokes from the right side main gear; place it outside the envelope and proceeded to the left main gear. I pulled the chokes from the left main gear; as I was walking to the left main gear I heard the tug beeping as it does when you close the gate and raise the nose gear. As I was placing those chokes on the ground outside the envelope I turned and noticed the nose gear was not in the raised position; at that point I took a step towards the tug to see what the issue was; at that point the trainee opened the gates of the tug. With the aircrafts brakes released the aircraft started to roll; I then ran to the chokes picked 1 up and ran to the main gear and put it behind the wheel; as I was doing that there were 3 maintenance employees standing near the front of the aircraft they also took chokes and put them behind the nose gear wheels. The aircraft rolled about 10 feet backwards before we stopped it. They then checked the nose gear for any damaged and said it was good to move. We then recaptured the nose gear with tug and towed it to [the parking area].

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Ramp Person reported that when preparing to tow a B787; the gates of the tug were inadvertently opened; allowing the aircraft to roll freely.

Narrative: During training of a new move team member we were asked to take Aircraft X from [the] gate to remote parking area. We had just finished turning the APU off; released the brakes and closed the cabin door. The trainee went to the move tug which he had already captured the aircraft; but needed to raise the front nose gear off the ground. While the trainee was in the tug I removed the chokes from the right side main gear; place it outside the envelope and proceeded to the left main gear. I pulled the chokes from the left main gear; as I was walking to the left main gear I heard the tug beeping as it does when you close the gate and raise the nose gear. As I was placing those chokes on the ground outside the envelope I turned and noticed the nose gear was not in the raised position; at that point I took a step towards the tug to see what the issue was; at that point the trainee opened the gates of the tug. With the aircrafts brakes released the aircraft started to roll; I then ran to the chokes picked 1 up and ran to the main gear and put it behind the wheel; as I was doing that there were 3 maintenance employees standing near the front of the aircraft they also took chokes and put them behind the nose gear wheels. The aircraft rolled about 10 feet backwards before we stopped it. They then checked the nose gear for any damaged and said it was good to move. We then recaptured the nose gear with tug and towed it to [the parking area].

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.