MD-83
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness; Training / Qualification
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Vehicle
General None Reported / Taken
Human Factors
Push back with parking brakes parked. While sitting in the cockpit prior to pushback I attempted to establish communication with the ground crew to no avail. I then noticed that the tug driver began pushing the airplane back with the parking brakes parked. No communication was established with me and no clearance was given from me prior to this. I flashed my taxi light; but I could hear the tug still pushing. I turned my taxi lights on bright and left them on while opening the cockpit window to establish communication. The tug driver stopped the push.There were three ground personal in the vicinity of the tug. One had lettering on the vest that said Manager (which was related to the ground personal; not station manager). Someone finally plugged the headset into the correct receptacle or got a working headset and I then established communication with the tug driver. The tug driver asked for parking brakes released. I said no because there may be tension in the tow-bar. I did not want to release the parking brakes and have the airplane lurch rearward and injure a standing flight attendant. I request that the tug driver put his tug in natural. He said he did. Then I asked for him to set his brakes. I then said my brakes were released. I could the tug driver talking to the person next to him saying that he had no idea what I was talking about. I asked that that they find someone who understood proper communication techniques. The new person said he did. We proceeded with the push back. The new person used standard communication techniques and there were no further incident. After push back I called operations to speak to Station Manager (I seen him there earlier). I talked to a supervisor and relayed the information to her and asked that she relay the information to the Station Manager and that she relay the seriousness of pushing back without speaking to the cockpit and establishing cockpit communication and cockpit clearance first. While I was on my layover I began thinking that perhaps I should have had a maintenance inspection on the nose gear after the incident. At the time I did not think it was necessary because the tug in question was a small tug and I did not feel that much jerking from the tug and thought I caught the incident in a timely manner. I called the duty chief and explained the information to him. He agreed that an inspection should be done.
MD-83 Captain reported the ground crew began a push back without first establishing communication with the cockpit.