Mechanic marshaling an aircraft being towed into a hardstand for maintenance work reported they had to run up to the tug driver to stop them from contacting an air stair ruck.

Date: 2024-10 · Aircraft: B737-900 · Phase: taxi

Anomalies: conflict-ground-conflict|critical|ground-event-encounter-ground-equipment-issue

Synopsis

Mechanic marshaling an aircraft being towed into a hardstand for maintenance work reported they had to run up to the tug driver to stop them from contacting an air stair ruck.

Narrative

A near miss occurred between an out-of-service 737-900ER and an air stair truck parked at the very edge of hardstand position XX. The out-of-service aircraft (window issue) taxied to the hardstand and needed to be reverse pushed into spot XX; next to a parked aircraft at spot XY. Before the push another portable air stair was moved by me out of the way. This type of rare push was new to me and the team; I was a wing-walker on the Captains side where the near miss occurred. A air stair was parked at the very back corner of the pavement; towards were spot XZ would be at were perpendicular area is a hanger. The back of the pavement of spot XX is a significant grassy hill; next to a hanger. The Airstair truck was in a spot that intuitively looks to be safe spot. It had it's stabilizers down; guardrails up; and parked by the very few people qualified to use it. No one (management; mechanic; or ramp pointed out that the air stair truck was parked unsafely. I was just told that the aircraft was ready to be towed to spot XX. The pusher was concentrating on the lead in line. All wingwalkers put up a X do not proceed. The pusher had to concentrate on the line because the wingtip of the aircraft at spot XY was mere feet away. As the aircraft was pushed I realized in advanced that there was a chance of possible contact with the very edge of the winglets; I did an X with the wands; and had to run to the pusher to stop the push. Our teams headsets had the very common issue of being INOP and battery issues.

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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.