B737 flight crew reported as they entered the deicing bay without guidance from deice vehicle; wingtip made contact with deice truck resulting in damaged wing scimitar.
Synopsis
B737 flight crew reported as they entered the deicing bay without guidance from deice vehicle; wingtip made contact with deice truck resulting in damaged wing scimitar.
Narrative
I was on the third day of my first OE (Operating Experience) trip; with the first leg of the day being ZZZ to ZZZ1. Both previous days of the trip had went well. My LCP (Line Check Pilot) and I had developed a good working relationship and I would rate our communication as excellent. He has strong leadership and decision making that accelerated my learning.On the morning of Day 0; we were picked up from the hotel in downtown at approximately XA:30. Light snow began during preflight. We discussed the need for deicing during our brief and developed a plan to ask for a [Runway] XXR departure since it is a longer runway. We requested deice on pushback and furthermore requested deicing on the XXR pad since it would expedite our taxi flow. During pushback we started one engine and left the flaps up during the after start checklist since there was falling precipitation and temperature was below freezing.We taxied across Runway XY/XZ; started the second engine; and then contacted Iceman as we approached Taxiway 1 near the XXR deice pad. Iceman clearly was not expecting us. He queried us multiple times on our flight number and tail number. After he had our information correct; he cleared us into Bay X and then switched us over to the deice truck frequency. The Captain at that point had to make a 90 degree left turn to enter Bay X from Taxiway 1. While turning; he called for us to clear our wings. While he checked left; I cleared to the right for the deice truck and A320 that were in Bay Y. He turned in on the taxi line and straightened the aircraft on the taxi line. At about that time; we switched to the deice truck frequency while he was starting to bring the aircraft to a stop. We felt a bump; and then the deice truck came up on frequency with our ship number and the command; halt." The bump felt to us like a pothole the nose gear had hit. The parking brake was set. The Captain's suspicions were raised and checked the left wing again. He observed that the left scimitar was partially broken off.We confirmed with deice truck that indeed there had been contact between the truck and left wingtip. It was unclear to us whether the contact had been with the truck or the boom. After confirming the damage; we began to coordinate with the Purser and Ops. The Captain further notified the passengers of the situation and that we would have to taxi back to the gate. We then coordinated with ATC and taxied back to the gate."
Second reporter narrative
During arrival at the aircraft and walk around inspection I informed the First Officer that we will have to get Deiced and then Anti Ice. He agreed. During the pushback we started the number 2 engine. After the ground crew was clear we completed the After start checklist. Due to the weather conditions and ground contamination we elected to utilize the engine anti ice and kept the flaps at 0. We then contacted Ground. Our clearance with Ground Control was Taxiway 1; cross [Runway] XX/XY; left on Taxiway 2 to the deice pad. At that time I asked the FO (First Officer) to complete a delayed engine start. Once he was done and we were holding short of Taxiway 3; the FO used the deice checklist from the Supplementary Procedures to configure the aircraft. While holding short of Taxiway 3 we contacted the Iceman. He has very uncertain as to he we were and could not find us in his system. The radios they were using were about a 2x5 on clarity. He also used the wrong tail number and flight number several times. Once we clarified who we were he finally cleared us onto the deice pad and into Bay X. As we entered the bay at a very slow speed I asked the FO to make sure we were clear of the Deice trucks on our right and the Airbus. I also did a quick look out of the Captain side window after I had the aircraft straight on the J line. The wings appeared clear of the trucks. As we were moving we felt what was like running over a pothole. ZZZ1 taxiways for example. The iceman at that time had given us a frequency to contact the trucks while we were still moving. As the FO switched the frequency we hear the Deice truck driver say our tail number; not our flight number; and he was using the word Halt". As I stopped the aircraft and set the parking brake I looked back and saw that the cherry picker on the boom was in front of the wing near the nav light. I also saw that the scimitar had been broken off. Due to the snow and 2 1/2 miles VIS I could not tell were the scimitar was located. We were told it was on top of the deice truck. After an assessment that damage did occur to the aircraft we taxied back to the gate. We informed the passengers as to what happened and they were removed from aircraft. No injury's occurred during the event. I would like to note that the iceman was behind the Airbus when he cleared us in and that we had no other guidance other than looking out the windows."
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.