Narrative:

In january 2009; I was called out to close a latch on the pneumatic air start door on aircraft X. This aircraft was ready for pushback for flight. I was notified about the popped latch via radio by the carrier. When I arrived at the gate; the jet tug was hooked up and the ground crew was prepared to push back the aircraft for flight. I proceeded straight to the pneumatic door and noticed that the aft latch was out. This panel has 3 latches. Upon closing the latch; I noticed that the forward lip of the pneumatic door opening was bent. Having seen this type of situation before; I decided to bend the lip back with a pair of pliers. I managed to get the door latched and let the airplane push back for flight. Later that night; after ship X had flown all day; it returned to ZZZ for an overnight. The crew notified the mechanic working second shift about the pneumatic door being unlatched. Upon further inspection to the door opening and the pneumatic duct; damage was discovered. The amount of damage discovered was very substantial. The duct had been moved forward and bent to the extent that a support rod had been broken. Upon hearing about the damage the next day; I remembered that due to an inoperative airborne power unit; an air start was going to be accomplished on that flight but was canceled because the aircraft's airborne power unit had been fixed well before departure. It was finally determined through investigations that the ground crew at ZZZ had pulled the cart away from the aircraft with the hose still attached to the aircraft pneumatic duct. I was not informed by the ground crew or the flight crew prior to dispatching the aircraft that an incident resulting in damage had occurred. Because I was unaware of the incident that occurred; I did not notice damage beyond the bent door lip and did not know to look for damage.

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Mechanic reports he was not informed by the Ground pushback crew; that they had previously driven off with the engine ground cart air start hose still connected to the MD-80 pneumatic air start duct; causing substantial damage.

Narrative: In January 2009; I was called out to close a latch on the pneumatic air start door on Aircraft X. This aircraft was ready for pushback for flight. I was notified about the popped latch via radio by the carrier. When I arrived at the gate; the jet tug was hooked up and the Ground Crew was prepared to push back the aircraft for flight. I proceeded straight to the pneumatic door and noticed that the aft latch was out. This panel has 3 latches. Upon closing the latch; I noticed that the forward lip of the pneumatic door opening was bent. Having seen this type of situation before; I decided to bend the lip back with a pair of pliers. I managed to get the door latched and let the airplane push back for flight. Later that night; after Ship X had flown all day; it returned to ZZZ for an overnight. The crew notified the mechanic working second shift about the pneumatic door being unlatched. Upon further inspection to the door opening and the pneumatic duct; damage was discovered. The amount of damage discovered was very substantial. The duct had been moved forward and bent to the extent that a support rod had been broken. Upon hearing about the damage the next day; I remembered that due to an inoperative airborne power unit; an air start was going to be accomplished on that flight but was canceled because the aircraft's airborne power unit had been fixed well before departure. It was finally determined through investigations that the ground crew at ZZZ had pulled the cart away from the aircraft with the hose still attached to the aircraft pneumatic duct. I was not informed by the ground crew or the flight crew prior to dispatching the aircraft that an incident resulting in damage had occurred. Because I was unaware of the incident that occurred; I did not notice damage beyond the bent door lip and did not know to look for damage.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.