Narrative:

Snow had fallen all night and was about two inches in depth over the entire ramp area by departure time at xa:20 local. We started our pushback and the tug was only able to go a few feet and lost traction. A new tug driver came out and was able to push us off the gate. Pushback at this gate requires that after they push us away from the jetway they then have to pull us forward to clear the equipment behind us and give us room to start engines. It is very tight quarters and does not allow much room for the tug driver to maneuver the aircraft. After we were pushed out/backed up and the tug driver was beginning to pull us forward he lost the ability to stop the tug. I could hear him say something about the brake being set but the aircraft was still moving/sliding forward attached to the tug. The captain asked him if he said he wanted the brake set because we were still moving so this didn't make sense. The plane stopped and we heard him say; 'I can't stop the tug; it's still moving.' we could feel the nose of the plane starting to slide a bit and I could see the captain was then applying the brake pedals to keep the aircraft from sliding with the tug. We then lost contact with the tug driver on the head set for several seconds probably because he was busy trying to control the tug. We were trying to ask him if he wanted us to set the brakes or not. We couldn't see anything that was happening because the tug was under our field of vision below the nose. We had no idea which way he was sliding. The tug started sliding sideways and ended up jack-knifed with our aircraft coming to rest against the left forward fuselage and the number one engine. We were unsure at the time of the incident if he actually made contact with the aircraft. There was no noticeable impact from the flight deck. After a few moments we were told from the push crew that they were calling the mechanics to come out. So we sat there for about an hour and 10 minutes waiting for the mechanics and ground crew to show up; finish their inspection; take pictures; remove the old tug and tow bar and bring us a new tug and tow bar so they could tow us back to the gate. The captain updated our passengers and flight attendants about every 15 minutes as to the status of the situation as we waited. We eventually got hooked up to a new tug and were towed back to the gate with no further incident.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A tug driver towing an A319 was unable to stop the vehicle on a snow and ice covered ramp so the tug jack knifed into the left side of the A319's fuselage and number one engine.

Narrative: Snow had fallen all night and was about two inches in depth over the entire ramp area by departure time at XA:20 local. We started our pushback and the tug was only able to go a few feet and lost traction. A new tug driver came out and was able to push us off the gate. Pushback at this gate requires that after they push us away from the jetway they then have to pull us forward to clear the equipment behind us and give us room to start engines. It is very tight quarters and does not allow much room for the tug driver to maneuver the aircraft. After we were pushed out/backed up and the tug driver was beginning to pull us forward he lost the ability to stop the tug. I could hear him say something about the brake being set but the aircraft was still moving/sliding forward attached to the tug. The Captain asked him if he said he wanted the brake set because we were still moving so this didn't make sense. The plane stopped and we heard him say; 'I can't stop the tug; it's still moving.' We could feel the nose of the plane starting to slide a bit and I could see the Captain was then applying the brake pedals to keep the aircraft from sliding with the tug. We then lost contact with the tug driver on the head set for several seconds probably because he was busy trying to control the tug. We were trying to ask him if he wanted us to set the brakes or not. We couldn't see anything that was happening because the tug was under our field of vision below the nose. We had no idea which way he was sliding. The tug started sliding sideways and ended up jack-knifed with our aircraft coming to rest against the left forward fuselage and the number one engine. We were unsure at the time of the incident if he actually made contact with the aircraft. There was no noticeable impact from the flight deck. After a few moments we were told from the push crew that they were calling the mechanics to come out. So we sat there for about an hour and 10 minutes waiting for the mechanics and ground crew to show up; finish their inspection; take pictures; remove the old tug and tow bar and bring us a new tug and tow bar so they could tow us back to the gate. The Captain updated our passengers and flight attendants about every 15 minutes as to the status of the situation as we waited. We eventually got hooked up to a new tug and were towed back to the gate with no further incident.

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.