A line mechanic reports excessive noise levels and difficulties communicating with ground control an...

Narrative:

I was picking up a B757-200 aircraft from gate. I was towing aircraft with tug and mechanic Y [was] riding brakes [in flight deck]. I tried to hook up the radio from the tug to the aircraft; but I couldn't communicate at all with mechanic Y in the flight deck. I had to hook up a cord directly from my headset to the aircraft; leaving me with no communication through the headset to the tower. I had to leave my right side headset off; with my head against the radio to try to hear the ground control frequency and the ramp frequency. I could barely hear when the tug was not in motion; but then when the tug was in motion; I had the additional noise of the tug to try to hear over. It was unsafe! We have repeatedly brought the issue up with management; and repeatedly written these radios up to have them fixed. I'm under the impression that this is the best we're going to get until something bad happens.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Line Mechanic reports excessive noise levels and difficulties communicating with Ground Control and the flight deck Mechanic riding brakes during an aircraft tow; using company radios mounted in their tugs.

Narrative: I was picking up a B757-200 aircraft from gate. I was towing aircraft with tug and Mechanic Y [was] riding brakes [in flight deck]. I tried to hook up the radio from the tug to the aircraft; but I couldn't communicate at all with Mechanic Y in the flight deck. I had to hook up a cord directly from my headset to the aircraft; leaving me with no communication through the headset to the Tower. I had to leave my right side headset off; with my head against the radio to try to hear the Ground Control frequency and the Ramp frequency. I could barely hear when the tug was not in motion; but then when the tug was in motion; I had the additional noise of the tug to try to hear over. It was unsafe! We have repeatedly brought the issue up with Management; and repeatedly written these radios up to have them fixed. I'm under the impression that this is the best we're going to get until something bad happens.

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	960706
Time
Date	201107
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B757-200
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Component
Aircraft Component	Communication Systems
Person 1
Function	Technician
Qualification	Maintenance Powerplant Maintenance Airframe
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown

A line mechanic reports excessive noise levels and difficulties communicating with ground control and the flight deck mechanic riding brakes during an aircraft tow; using company radios mounted in their tugs.