Air carrier flight crew reported hitting jet bridge during taxi into gate.
Synopsis
Air carrier flight crew reported hitting jet bridge during taxi into gate.
Narrative
Approaching [the] gate in ZZZ; there was small delay in when the ground crew showed to marshal the aircraft in. Once we saw them in position and gave us the signal to pull forward we commenced our taxi. I observed the right wing walker in position on the right-side of the safety area; the lead marshal at the nose of the aircraft and another ramper holding the chocks just the left of the lead. The lead gave us the all clear to pull in; as we continued the lead began closing his wands in a manner suggesting we were approaching the point where we needed stop. We felt a small bump and the plane stopped; at which point the Captain remarked 'did I just hit something.. did I run over chocks?' I remarked 'maybe we hit a grate in the pavement' we both looked at the lead in confusion and he again waived his wands indicating that we needed to continue to pull forward.After power was applied the aircraft yawed slightly and it was evident we were stuck on something. I asked 'did we hit the jet bridge?' at the point the Captain looked behind his left shoulder and said that we had. The lead looked to the left and gave us the cross to stop position and we set the parking brake. The ground crew began to walk towards the jet bridge; at that point we notice it was out of place. The jet bridge appeared to be fully extended and displaced far from its normal position with its wheels nowhere near the red and yellow box. I took a few minutes for the gate agent and the ground crew to connect the jet bridge to the plane; it appeared to operate normally. The bump was so small that the FA's (Flight Attendants) and passengers had no inclination that we had even hit anything. I deplaned first and went outside to inspect the damage. The wing had made contact with the extension portion of the jet bridge that shields the passengers from the weather during the boarding and deplaning process; much like an awning. There was a small scuff on the top portion of the wing just lateral to the winglet but no visible damage such as a dent; there was a small scratch running along the leading edge of the wing leading up to the winglet. I asked the ramper what happened; he stated that airport Maintenance was working on that jet bridge earlier today and had left it fully extended but pulled more toward the adjacent gate. Afterwards I spoke with the gate agent and asked; 'how hard did we hit' she stated she didn't know because she was not on the jet bridge when it happened. Pictures were taken and sent to Maintenance per request; a write up was completed; and the Supervisor was notified. After we were confident we notified everyone that we needed to; we powered the aircraft down and left. The gate did not appear to be in an abnormal position; Airport Maintenance had been working on it and left it out of position. Left wing walker did assume a wing walking position instead held the chocks by the lead ramper. Gate agent was not present during aircraft pull in; they probably would have noticed how out of position it was. Airport Maintenance could have returned the gate to a normal position. The ramper on the left could have assumed a wing walking position. I could have noticed that the gate was abnormal and out of position.
Second reporter narrative
We pulled up short of the gate area and waited for the rampers to come out to marshal us in. The gate area appeared to be clear. After the rampers came out they gave us the signal to taxi forward. There was one ramper marshaling us in; a wing walker on the right side; and one more ramper holding chocks on my left side near where the nose wheel would stop. As we were getting close and slowing down to stop; we felt the aircraft stop. I wasn't sure if we had run over something or been held up by a bump in the pavement. The marshaller continued to wave us forward. I added thrust to try to proceed but stopped when I felt the aircraft wanting to turn to the left. I looked out the window behind us and saw that the left wing had come in contact with the jet bridge. I think seeing me look back brought the ground crews attention to the jet bridge. They then gave us the stop signal. The ground crew had the gate agent move the jet bridge off the aircraft and connected it to aircraft so we could deplane.As the passengers deplaned; we inspected the damage and learned that the jet bridge had not been correctly parked. Earlier on Maintenance had been working on that jet bridge and had not returned it to the correct position. The wing struck the jet bridge just inside of the winglet. There didn't appear to be any significant damage to the leading edge of the aircraft; we contacted Company Maintenance and wrote up the incident. We were asked to take pictures and send email to Maintenance Control. The jet bridge was hit on the awning extender; which was bent back. This was caused by the jetbridge not being placed in the proper position; the rampers not properly watching the aircraft while marshaling us in; and the pilots not seeing the jetbridge was too far out of position.Maintenance personnel need to return jetbridge to correct parking spot after working on it. Rampers need to check the safety area better and keep a closer eye on the aircraft while marshaling for taxi. Pilot need to pay closer attention to make sure the safety area is clear of objects.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.