B767 FLT CREW REFUSED TO ENTER GATE AREA WITH EQUIPMENT LOCATED BEYOND THE 'CLEAR LINES.'

Date: 2007-10 · Aircraft: B767-300 and 300 ER · Phase: ground

Anomalies: conflict-ground-conflict|less-severe|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy

Synopsis

B767 FLT CREW REFUSED TO ENTER GATE AREA WITH EQUIPMENT LOCATED BEYOND THE 'CLEAR LINES.'

Narrative

APCHING THE GATE I OBSERVED NUMEROUS PIECES OF EQUIP (LOADERS; BAG CARTS; TRACTOR; TOWBAR; AND PWR CART) WELL WITHIN THE EQUIP CLR LINES SO I STOPPED THE ACFT SHORT IN ACCORDANCE WITH OUR FLT MANUAL AND RAMP PROCS. WITH THE BRAKE PARKED; I POINTED AND GESTURED TO COMMUNICATE THE NEED TO MOVE THE EQUIP BEYOND THE LINES. THE GUIDE MAN'S IMMEDIATE RESPONSE WAS TO THROW THE ORANGE WANDS TOWARD THE ACFT WITH LIKE A LOOK OF DISGUST. I CALLED OPS AND REQUESTED THE ASSISTANCE OF A RAMP SUPVR WHEN THE RAMP SCENE LOOKED LIKE IT WAS ABOUT TO BOIL OVER. EVENTUALLY; THE INDIVIDUAL; WHO APPEARED TO BE THE SUPVR; COORDINATED THE MOVEMENT OF THE EQUIP AND THEN CONNECTED HIS HEADSET TO THE ACFT. I INFORMED HIM THE EQUIP APPEARED TO BE CLR AND I WAS READY TO MOVE FORWARD. HAZARDOUS INCIDENT. BEFORE THE SUPVR ON THE HEADSET HAD DISCONNECTED AND MOVED SAFELY AWAY FROM THE NOSE GEAR A GUIDE MAN (DIFFERENT FROM THE FIRST GUIDE MAN; I BELIEVE) SIGNALED TO TAXI AHEAD. I NEARLY RELEASED THE BRAKE TO MOVE THE ACFT FORWARD WHEN I REALIZED I HAD NOT SEEN THE SUPVR EMERGE FROM UNDER THE ACFT. IN FACT; HE WAS SILL ON THE HEADSET! SINCE THESE KINDS OF EVENTS OCCUR ON A CONTINUING BASIS; PARTICULARLY AT DOMESTIC LOCATIONS (I ALMOST NEVER SEE A PROB AT INTL STATIONS); AND MGMNT HAS NOT TAKEN STEPS TO CORRECT THE RAMP SAFETY PROBS; I PRESUME THEY ARE MORE CONCERNED WITH ON-TIME PERFORMANCE THAN COMPLYING WITH ESTABLISHED SAFETY RULES. WITH THAT IN MIND; MGMNT SHOULD NOTE THIS FLT WAS DELAYED 12 MINS WAITING FOR THE GATE AREA TO BE CLRED; MAYBE THAT WOULD BE ADEQUATE MOTIVATION TO EFFECT A CHANGE. THIS IS MY 7TH RPT ON THIS SUBJECT JUST SINCE FEB/XA/07. THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE THE NUMEROUS REPORTS I HAVE SUBMITTED CONCERNING THE GATE AREA NOT BEING CLRED FOR ARR.

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