EMB ERJ 170/175 ER/LR
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Human-Machine Interface; Situational Awareness
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; Flight Crew Returned To Gate; General Flight Cancelled / Delayed; General Maintenance Action
Aircraft; Equipment / Tooling; Human Factors
Just prior to pushback; after all preflight actions had been completed and flight attendants had closed cabin doors; the gate agents attempted to withdraw the jetbridge from the aircraft.  Instead of the jetbridge moving backwards; away from the aircraft fuselage; the jetbridge moved forward and to the left; impacting the aircraft forcefully and rocking it to the side and forward.  I looked out the window to see the gate agents with an alarmed and confused look on their faces.  The other gate agent attempted to move the jetbridge and it again pressed into the fuselage; and also moved further along the fuselage toward the nose of the aircraft.  I opened my window and told the gate agents that I would need to come outside and inspect the aircraft.  After several minutes; another agent arrived on scene and was able to successfully withdraw the jetbridge from the aircraft.  He then repositioned it for the opening of the main cabin door.  I exited the aircraft and personally inspected the fuselage for damage.  While on the ground I also conferred with the ramp crew who had observed the incident.  Their large tug and towbar were hooked up to the nose gear of the aircraft; and noted to me that the entire ensemble (tug; towbar; jet) had rocked in unison in the direction of the terminal during the incident.  I closely observed the fuselage at the points of impact; as well as the nose gear; and discovered no evidence of damage.  To be more certain however; I notified Maintenance Control and requested an inspection by their mechanics.  2 mechanics arrived shortly thereafter and inspected the aircraft; both fuselage and nose gear; and reported no findings of damage.  After signing off the aircraft's logbook they departed; and we soon were able to depart.  When the pushback was complete; the ramp crew had some difficulty disconnecting the towbar from the nose gear; requiring an unusual amount of banging and rocking back and forth from the tug.  Finally they disconnected and gave the wave off. We taxied northbound to the runway with both engines running.  The aircraft distinctly pulled to the right anytime I took my hand off the tiller.  This was especially concerning because it had not done that during the taxi in to the gate when we had arrived earlier; nor had it done so during the pre-takeoff taxi on the previous flight.  The winds were light and variable; mostly from directly aft of the aircraft.  As I could find no other reason to account for the aircraft pulling to the right; I suspected that perhaps some damage had occurred to the nose gear during the jetbridge impact incident.  I was concerned that at higher speeds (during takeoff roll) the pull to the right could become very dangerous; resulting in a departure from the runway; or later potential problems with landing gear retraction.  I stopped the aircraft and phoned Maintenance Control to confer.  Then I decided to return to the gate for another inspection of the aircraft. Upon returning to the gate we were assigned another aircraft; and were able to perform the scheduled flight with that ship. According to the gate agents; this was not the first time that the jetbridge at this gate had malfunctioned like this; moving in the direction opposite of what the driver commanded.  Fix the jetbridge.
EMB-175 Captain experiences a jet bridge collision with the aircraft while the agents are attempting to remove it after boarding. A different agent is able to get the jetbridge clear and the aircraft is carefully inspected; with no damage found. During taxi the aircraft pulls to the right and the Captain elects to return to the gate.