A319 flight crew reported a loss of aircraft control during pushback procedure.
Synopsis
A319 flight crew reported a loss of aircraft control during pushback procedure.
Narrative
During push back off of gate XX at ZZZ airport; the ramp agents appeared to be training a new employee and began to push the aircraft off of the gate. There appeared to be lots of instruction going on during the push with many corrections. The aircraft was pushed back and forth several times trying to correctly align the aircraft with the taxi lines. At some point during this process; one of the ramp agents decided to disconnect the towbar or the towbar inadvertently disconnected. No instructions were given or received to set the aircraft brakes. The aircraft then slowly began moving forward and I received frantic instructions from one of the observers/wing alters to set brakes via hand signals. Brakes were quickly applied. Ground crew departed without further incident. Cause: It is my opinion that the ongoing training of the ramp agent was the leading cause of the incident. His lack of experience and knowledge lead to his failure to instruct flight crew to set brakes before disconnecting towbar and or communication equipment.
Second reporter narrative
During pushback; ground crew seemed to be training a tug driver based on hot mic conversations; supervisor giving commands and the back and forth attempting to line up the plane. I reported to ramp that it may take a little longer to taxi due to such and he responded with understanding. After we stopped; as I was heads down I felt the airplane roll and the Captain applied manual brakes and reported that the ramp crew was waving frantically giving the set brakes sign. We heard no command to set brakes or did we respond that the brakes were set. Tug pulled away and we continued to taxi. No further issues. Cause: Ramp crew being trained and no confirmation that the brakes were set before disconnecting the tug.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.