A320 captain reports stopping to avoid truck mounted boarding stair in obvious conflict with right w...

Narrative:

Taxiing in to gate; we turned in and lined up for the lead-in line to the gate. There was no marshaller in sight so I stopped the aircraft and set the parking brake. About 1 minute later the guide person set up on the lead in line and proceeded to marshal us in to the gate. About 60 feet from where the chocks were; we noticed an airstair (attached to a vehicle) on the right side of the aircraft. When it became clear that our right wing would impact the airstair continuing on the lead-in line; I once again stopped the aircraft and set the parking brake. The guide person continued to try to marshal us in (apparently not yet noticing the airstair) until I flashed the taxi light multiple times. The guide person then saw the airstair; went over and moved it to a different location. A different guide person then continued the aircraft receipt without further incident. I estimate that the wingtip was approximately 25 feet from the airstair when we stopped. I believe that one contributing factor to this incident was that the marshaller was not present when we first arrived thereby not having a chance to clear the ramp area and then focusing only on the nose of the aircraft and the lead-in line.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A320 Captain reports stopping to avoid truck mounted boarding stair in obvious conflict with right wing while marshal continues to motion the aircraft forward. Truck is eventually moved and flight parks safely.

Narrative: Taxiing in to gate; we turned in and lined up for the lead-in line to the gate. There was no marshaller in sight so I stopped the aircraft and set the parking brake. About 1 minute later the Guide Person set up on the lead in line and proceeded to marshal us in to the gate. About 60 feet from where the chocks were; we noticed an airstair (attached to a vehicle) on the right side of the aircraft. When it became clear that our right wing would impact the airstair continuing on the lead-in line; I once again stopped the aircraft and set the parking brake. The Guide Person continued to try to marshal us in (apparently not yet noticing the airstair) until I flashed the taxi light multiple times. The Guide Person then saw the airstair; went over and moved it to a different location. A different Guide Person then continued the aircraft receipt without further incident. I estimate that the wingtip was approximately 25 feet from the airstair when we stopped. I believe that one contributing factor to this incident was that the marshaller was not present when we first arrived thereby not having a chance to clear the ramp area and then focusing only on the nose of the aircraft and the lead-in line.

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.

Attributes
ACN	846645
Time
Date	200908
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A320
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 190 Flight Crew Total 16300 Flight Crew Type 3800
Events
Anomaly	Conflict Ground Conflict Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Ground Event / Encounter Object Inflight Event / Encounter Object

A320 captain reports stopping to avoid truck mounted boarding stair in obvious conflict with right wing while marshal continues to motion the aircraft forward. Truck is eventually moved and flight parks safely.