Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 50; Flight Crew Type 10000
Situational Awareness; Communication Breakdown
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control; Ground Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem
Weather; Airport; Company Policy
Upon pushback from ZZZ Gate 1; it was soon apparent the Pushback Crew was experiencing a problem. They said nothing but it was increasingly clear the Tug was sliding as well as the aircraft not proceeding in a direction I would expect. I tried asking the Driver if there was a problem but did not receive an answer via wireless headset. When his Tug was starting to jackknife; I decided to use my brakes to stop the aircraft. By this time; the Tug came very close to impacting the aircraft on my side. I later learned that his headset was working; but he was trying to talk to the other Ramp Agents instead and not me. I also believe he was cognitively overwhelmed with the unexpected situation as that same phenomena (not responding to me) continued later when we attempted to another push after re-attaching the tow bar/Tug. The First Officer was also adding his input; which was not helping the situation with communication. It was a communications mess. We called the station to inform them of the situation and eventually a Ramp Supervisor came out and took over. We then discussed the option of attempting to move the aircraft to another part of the ramp where it was known to be less than nil braking. Going back to the same gate would only have been to an area of known poor/nil control. We eventually got to an area where the Ramp Agents could safely walk and feel that the ramp was in better condition and where other aircraft were not experiencing any problems.When I landed approximately an hour prior in a different aircraft; my taxi to Gate 2 took me to an area where I lost all steering and braking control for about five seconds. We immediately notified this on Ops frequency; and at least one other Crew stated they experienced the same. Luckily; we slid to an area where I regained control and then carefully proceeded to the gate when the aircraft performed adequately. I then called Dispatch via my cell phone immediately after block in. He said he would pass it on to the supervisor; but I did not hear any apparent immediate concern. Instead; he said I needed to alert the Station; as it is their job to manage that info (I was really puzzled that our Dispatch gave me that answer). I eventually found the Ops Agent and wanted to make sure the Station had this information; as I was very concerned that others could experience worse.Q1: What does it take for a Pilot to state before any real concern is expressed by those managing our operation? Was poor or nil braking not a big enough concern?Q2: Why had nothing been done to correct the situation or at least alert other Crews that some areas were okay but others were NIL? Or stop the operation?Q3: Why would a Push Crew try to fix this problem without getting any other assistance or guidance? I could see they were guessing and even willing to just leave us there as they told us to try to taxi out of it. They even tried to tow us forward on the re-attempt with our engines running. They were completely overwhelmed; which gave me even greater concern.Q4: As Crews; we have no accurate resources (ZZZ is a joke as it is often old and/or inaccurate) to tell us real time conditions on other parts of the airport other than asking Ground Control (which I did). I was concerned that everything was starting to freeze over; and I did not want to the PIREP stating I was in NIL or off the taxiway later on. Without having routine freezing rain experience; how can I know how quickly conditions can go from good to bad?Q5: What does it take for a pause or stop in our operation? Damage? Injury? Taxiway departure? It seems like we just continue pushing with no apparent oversight. That is not a comforting feeling nor does it give me much confidence our system has mechanisms to protect me before getting in a terrible spot.I would appreciate answers to these questions and would like to know if anyone in Headquarters feels this situation was acceptable or not?
Air carrier Captain reported that during pushback the tug began sliding and the Captain applied brakes to stop the aircraft; avoiding a collision. Captain expressed concern that ramp conditions were poor and that company operations were not properly addressing the safety issues.