2004-04 · NASA ASRS report 616031
A330 CAPT RELEASED THE BRAKES TO BE TOWED BACK TO THE GATE. THE CREW DISCOVERED THEY WERE ROLLING WITH NO TUG ATTACHED.
ON PUSHBACK; A CARGO DOOR LIGHT ANNUNCIATED DURING PUSHBACK AND ENG START. I INSTRUCTED THE GND PUSH CREW TO STAY CONNECTED BECAUSE THEY WOULD HAVE TO TOW US BACK IN TO THE GATE. I RELEASED THE PARKING BRAKE AFTER I SAID I WAS RELEASING IT AND DIRECTED THEM TO TOW US BACK TO THE GATE. SOON I RECEIVED A VISUAL INDICATION FROM THE GND CREW TO STOP. I DID. I THEN REALIZED THAT WE WEREN'T BEING PULLED BY THE TUG; BUT INSTEAD ROLLING UNDER OUR OWN PWR. NO DAMAGE OR INJURIES RESULTED. I BELIEVE THE INCIDENT WAS PRIMARILY CAUSED BY THE INABILITY OF THE GND CREW TO UNDERSTAND MY ENGLISH. THE CONTRIBUTING FACTORS WERE CREW DISTR AND WORKLOAD MGMNT. WE WERE BUSY DEALING WITH CHKLISTS AND ABNORMAL PROCS. THE COCKPIT AND CABIN WERE ALSO VERY HOT BECAUSE THE PACKS DO NOT OPERATE WHEN THE ENGS ARE RUNNING AND THE CARGO DOOR INDICATES OPEN. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 616897: AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE START PROC; WE RECEIVED AN ECAM WARNING THAT THE FORWARD CARGO DOOR WAS OPEN AND THE PACKS WERE INOP. (THIS WAS A RECURRING PROB WITH THIS ACFT. WE HAVE NO REASON TO BELIEVE THAT THE DOOR WAS ACTUALLY OPEN ON INDICATION PROB ONLY.) THE CAPT INFORMED THE GND CREW (THROUGH THE INTERPHONE) 'CONFIRM TOW BAR CONNECTED.' THE GND COORDINATOR STATED 'OK.' THE CAPT STATED HE WAS RELEASING BRAKES AND THEN DID SO. WE STARTED TO MOVE. WHEN I LOOKED UP; WE WERE PASSING OUR GATE AND INCREASING SPD. WE THEN NOTICED THE WING WALKER GIVING US THE STOP SIGNAL. I SAID; 'I DON'T THINK WE'RE CONNECTED.' THE CAPT AND I WERE RELUCTANT TO APPLY THE BRAKES FOR FEAR OF SNAPPING AND DAMAGING THE NOSE GEAR. SOON; THE CAPT DECIDED THAT WE HAD TRAVELED FAR ENOUGH. HE APPLIED THE BRAKES. WE THEN RETURNED TO THE GATE UNDER OUR OWN PWR; HAVING REALIZED THAT THE TOW BAR HAD BEEN DISCONNECTED. OBSERVATION: BETTER TO HAVE FORCED THE AGENT TO RPT WHAT WE TOLD HIM.
More incidents for this aircraft family
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
Loading the flight search…
Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.
We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.
Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.
Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.