Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness; Training / Qualification
Ground Event / Encounter Object
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged
Equipment / Tooling; Procedure; Human Factors
APU deferred requiring a GPU and bottle start. Ramp was short one person. ACARS is not available; so had to use the ACARS backup form. Despite all this; we blocked out on time. Ground crew tried to push airplane back with towbar as they normally do; but tow bar was bent and couldn't be used. No other towbar was available. I suggested to ground crew that if they made sure all ground equipment was clear; including moving the jet bridge back as far as it would go; we may be able to taxi out of gate. This was done. Cleared left side as far aft as I could see; noting that wingwalker was behind the wing. I then focused my attention on the marshaller who was to my left. Wing walker was no longer in my line of sight. Cleared to taxi which required a tight right turn. Began taxi; observed stop signal from marshaller. As I applied brakes;I felt aircraft jolt as it struck jet bridge. Damage was to left winglet half way up; approx 6 inches in length; one inch deep. Sent photos to MTC. Submitted to alcohol and drug testing. Aircraft was deplaned and flight cancelled.Ground crew short one member. Didn't know it at the time; but ground crew had never performed an airplane power out. This was a nonstandard procedure for them; which explains why the wingwalker was behind the wing as this is where he normally stands for a pushback. Rainy weather made it more difficult to see compared to a clear day. Maybe because of my interest in being on our way and making it all work; it didn't even register in my brain that the marshaller didn't have wands. Since she is normally driving the tug she normally doesn't have wands. As I reflected on this event I realized in a close quarters situation like this; I normally pay more attention to the wing walker then the marshaller. This eliminates the delay from wingwalker to marshaller to me which I think contributed to this incident. Other times I have seen the wingwalker give the stop signal while the marshaller is indicating the taxi signal.
CRJ-200 Captain reports damage to the left winglet during attempt to taxi out of a gate after the push back fails due to a bent tow bar. The flight is cancelled.