Narrative:

During pushback on a contaminated ramp (at night); the airplane's right main gear sunk about 1 inch into a grated drainage area where the airplane remained stuck for about an hour. When we hit that area; the airplane experienced a pretty significant 'jolt' to the point that I was concerned that the flight attendants may have been knocked over since they were standing up giving their PA's; but they were ok. The tug driver told me that the area where the gear sunk was covered with snow and ice and that they couldn't see it before the airplane's wheels rolled over it and that the weight of the airplane broke through the area where we got stuck. The tug tried to pull us back out; but because of the slickness of the ramp; the tug could not get enough traction on it's wheels to pull us out - the tug was 'fish-tailing' and the tires were spinning. After that; the ground crew got a baggage cart and tied it to the back-end of the tug (I guess to aid the tug) and then they tried to pull us forward; with no luck. Both of the vehicles were fish-tailing under the strain of trying to pull us out and it didn't look very safe to me. The ground crew then asked me if I would try 'powering out'; but I was thinking that if a tug couldn't pull me out; it would take a pretty high power setting to try and get unstuck; and I was also concerned with what would happen if we did pop out of the rut at a high power setting on a slippery ramp; so I declined that option. They then told me they were going to either get a bulldozer or dump truck to hook up to the back of the tug or they were going to hook up the dump truck directly to the airplane to attempt and pull me out. I told them no - I didn't think those options were safe with people on board. I also asked them if they had chains on the tug and was told no. While all this was going on; I contacted dispatch and had them patch in to maintenance control; because I was concerned that there might have been damage to the gear and/or tires. Maintenance control contacted contract maintenance and sent somebody out. The guy I talked to at maintenance control also suggested using de-icing fluid around the areas where the tug was slipping. We suggested that to the ground crew; but they said they couldn't do that because of epa (environmental protection agency) restrictions and they also thought that it would make things worse. The next thing they did was bring a truck full of sand and dumped sand in the areas that more traction was needed. That did not work. They finally agreed to try the de-icing fluid idea applied to the areas that they needed traction; and that finally worked. After we were finally free of the rut; the contact maintenance guy inspected the gear and the tires and did not see any visible damage. We then proceeded to start engines; takeoff and had an uneventful flight to our destination. First of all; I'm not sure why the ramp was designed with drainage holes that are that deep. It is hard for me to believe that this is the first time this has ever happened; because; according to the tug driver; those drainage holes are all over the ramp area. I guess re-designing the ramp area is probably not an option; but as a minimum; those drainage areas should be well marked and kept clear of snow and ice as much as possible so that they are very visible; to prevent this from happening again. Another item that could have helped is having chains on the tug. I don't even know if that's an option; but it seems to me that in all these snowy areas that we go to that chains on the tug's tires should be an option.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B717 right main gear dropped into a grated drain during pushed back on a snow and ice covered ramp at night. Numerous attempts to pull the aircraft out failed until deice fluid was applied to the ramp where the tug was located.

Narrative: During pushback on a contaminated ramp (at night); the airplane's right main gear sunk about 1 inch into a grated drainage area where the airplane remained stuck for about an hour. When we hit that area; the airplane experienced a pretty significant 'jolt' to the point that I was concerned that the flight attendants may have been knocked over since they were standing up giving their PA's; but they were OK. The tug driver told me that the area where the gear sunk was covered with snow and ice and that they couldn't see it before the airplane's wheels rolled over it and that the weight of the airplane broke through the area where we got stuck. The tug tried to pull us back out; but because of the slickness of the ramp; the tug could not get enough traction on it's wheels to pull us out - the tug was 'fish-tailing' and the tires were spinning. After that; the ground crew got a baggage cart and tied it to the back-end of the tug (I guess to aid the tug) and then they tried to pull us forward; with no luck. Both of the vehicles were fish-tailing under the strain of trying to pull us out and it didn't look very safe to me. The ground crew then asked me if I would try 'powering out'; but I was thinking that if a tug couldn't pull me out; it would take a pretty high power setting to try and get unstuck; and I was also concerned with what would happen if we did pop out of the rut at a high power setting on a slippery ramp; so I declined that option. They then told me they were going to either get a bulldozer or dump truck to hook up to the back of the tug or they were going to hook up the dump truck directly to the airplane to attempt and pull me out. I told them no - I didn't think those options were safe with people on board. I also asked them if they had chains on the tug and was told no. While all this was going on; I contacted Dispatch and had them patch in to Maintenance Control; because I was concerned that there might have been damage to the gear and/or tires. Maintenance Control contacted Contract Maintenance and sent somebody out. The guy I talked to at Maintenance Control also suggested using de-icing fluid around the areas where the tug was slipping. We suggested that to the ground crew; but they said they couldn't do that because of EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) restrictions and they also thought that it would make things worse. The next thing they did was bring a truck full of sand and dumped sand in the areas that more traction was needed. That did not work. They finally agreed to try the de-icing fluid idea applied to the areas that they needed traction; and that finally worked. After we were finally free of the rut; the Contact Maintenance guy inspected the gear and the tires and did not see any visible damage. We then proceeded to start engines; takeoff and had an uneventful flight to our destination. First of all; I'm not sure why the ramp was designed with drainage holes that are that deep. It is hard for me to believe that this is the first time this has ever happened; because; according to the tug driver; those drainage holes are all over the ramp area. I guess re-designing the ramp area is probably not an option; but as a minimum; those drainage areas should be well marked and kept clear of snow and ice as much as possible so that they are very visible; to prevent this from happening again. Another item that could have helped is having chains on the tug. I don't even know if that's an option; but it seems to me that in all these snowy areas that we go to that chains on the tug's tires should be an option.

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.