Narrative:

We pushed back from gate and the tug driver pushed us into a position at least 5 ft off the taxiway centerline; which placed the main gear extremely close to the edge of the taxiway. The tug driver indicated that they were going to leave us in that position and I responded that they needed to pull us forward and position us on the yellow taxiway yellow line and that this was unacceptable. My concern was the position of the main gear to the edge of the taxiway; in this position; especially at a heavy weight; during initial taxi; I would need to go forward before having enough momentum to make a turn to return to the taxiway; and the pushback position was not acceptable for safe taxi. The next sequence was the most troublesome from a safety perspective. While I was talking to the tug driver; and telling them that I needed the aircraft moved into a better position before I could safely taxi; they indicated to me that they could not move me to the taxiway centerline because the tow bar was disconnected!!! This was done unilaterally; without the SOP of telling me to set the brakes; by the other member of the pushback crew. I was trying to verify from the tug driver; whether the tow bar was indeed disconnected; and that no re-position should occur; because I was setting the brakes until; I could re-establish a proper pushback phraseology and procedure. From what I was told from the tug driver; the other person from the pushback crew apparently just disconnected the tow bar when the pushback stopped in the improper position without receipt of a signal from the pushback crewmember on the headset that the brakes had been set per SOP. I was able to re-confirm the tow bar was re-connected and the re-position of the aircraft to a proper position was re-established. The aircraft did not roll forward; but the lack of properly following SOP; by unilaterally disconnecting the tow bar without the command to set brakes and being well off the taxiway centerline when I was anticipating further movement to the proper position; created a risk for an incident. I reminded the person on the headset; of the extreme importance of following prescribed pushback procedures and the danger when not performing the SOP properly. I also asked that the person on the headset; remind the other pushback crewmember to follow SOP and not unilaterally remove a tow bar without receiving the confirmation that the brakes are set. I believe that there was training involved in this pushback; as there were three people in view when I finally received the salute and release from guidance; if there was training involved; the trainer should have been monitoring the radio and should have intervened when the position was incorrect and also should have been backing up the proper phraseology and should have interceded when the disconnect apparently happened; and no brakes set command was issued while the aircraft was in the improper position to the taxiway centerline.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B777-220 was pushed back from the gate and left five feet from the taxiway centerline. The Captain feared he would have insufficient momentum after beginning the taxi to make the turn onto the taxiway. When he asked the crew to pull the aircraft forward and onto the centerline; they refused because the tow bar was unilaterally disconnected.

Narrative: We pushed back from gate and the tug driver pushed us into a position at least 5 FT off the taxiway centerline; which placed the main gear extremely close to the edge of the taxiway. The tug driver indicated that they were going to leave us in that position and I responded that they needed to pull us forward and position us on the yellow taxiway yellow line and that this was unacceptable. My concern was the position of the main gear to the edge of the taxiway; in this position; especially at a heavy weight; during initial taxi; I would need to go forward before having enough momentum to make a turn to return to the taxiway; and the pushback position was not acceptable for safe taxi. The next sequence was the most troublesome from a safety perspective. While I was talking to the tug driver; and telling them that I needed the aircraft moved into a better position before I could safely taxi; they indicated to me that they could not move me to the taxiway centerline because THE TOW BAR WAS DISCONNECTED!!! This was done unilaterally; without the SOP of telling me to set the brakes; by the other member of the pushback crew. I was trying to verify from the tug driver; whether the tow bar was indeed disconnected; and that no re-position should occur; because I was setting the brakes until; I could re-establish a proper pushback phraseology and procedure. From what I was told from the tug driver; the other person from the pushback crew apparently just disconnected the tow bar when the pushback stopped in the improper position without receipt of a signal from the pushback crewmember on the headset that the brakes had been set per SOP. I was able to re-confirm the tow bar was re-connected and the re-position of the aircraft to a proper position was re-established. The aircraft did not roll forward; but the lack of properly following SOP; by unilaterally disconnecting the tow bar without the command to set brakes and being well off the taxiway centerline when I was anticipating further movement to the proper position; created a risk for an incident. I reminded the person on the headset; of the extreme importance of following prescribed pushback procedures and the danger when not performing the SOP properly. I also asked that the person on the headset; remind the other pushback crewmember to follow SOP and not unilaterally remove a tow bar without receiving the confirmation that the brakes are set. I believe that there was training involved in this pushback; as there were three people in view when I finally received the salute and release from guidance; if there was training involved; the trainer should have been monitoring the radio and should have intervened when the position was incorrect and also should have been backing up the proper phraseology and should have interceded when the disconnect apparently happened; and no brakes set command was issued while the aircraft was in the improper position to the taxiway centerline.

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.