B777 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Communication Breakdown
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe
Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem; Flight Crew Returned To Gate; General Flight Cancelled / Delayed; General Maintenance Action
Equipment / Tooling; Human Factors
During pushback everything went normally; initially. We received 'clear to start engines' over headset and started engines. The aircraft came to a complete stop and no command was given that the push was complete or to set parking brake. I made several attempts to determine status of pushback on headset with no reply. After a couple of minutes; headset communications were re-established with the tug driver and he asked 'is parking brake set' and I replied 'no; do you want the parking brake set?' He replied 'set parking brake' and I set parking brake and replied 'parking brake set'. We heard a lot of banging sounds and I asked if they had a problem with the tow bar and the reply was that the tow bar was wedged between the nose gear wheels. Aircraft Maintenance came out to inspect and we discussed options over the headset to remove tow bar. Talked to flight attendants; passengers; ground control; ramp control; directly. Free text messaged Dispatch and later directly on remote frequency and later by cell phone during the time after problem occurred. We had made arrangements for unloading passengers by stairs and busing passengers to terminal when Maintenance was successful in removing tow bar from nose gear and noted that the nose gear appeared to be undamaged. With another tow bar; were towed back to our original gate.
After pushback the ground crew disconnected the tow bar without the parking brake being set. During the pushback everything went normally; we heard the statement from the push crew 'cleared to start engines' over the intercom.Both engines were started. The aircraft came to a complete stop. No communication came from the push crew that the push was completed or for us to set parking brakes. The Captain made numerous attempts on the intercom to inquire the status of the pushback. No communication was made to us that the push was complete; or for us to set the parking brakes. It appeared to us that we lost headset communications. After several minutes the ground crew called us on the intercom and said 'the cord ripped out during pushback; do you have the brakes parked?' The Captain ask 'do you want parking brakes set?' Reply was 'yes; set parking brake.'Several minutes passed as we heard lots of banging noise from under the nose of the aircraft; the Captain ask the push crew 'is there a problem with the tow bar?' Ground crew replied 'Yes; the tow bar is stuck; it's going to be awhile; we have Maintenance coming.'Maintenance was successful in freeing the tow bar and hooking us up to another tug for a return to the gate. An entry was made in the logbook to have the nose gear inspected.
B777 flight crew reported a tow bar issue during pushback required a return to the gate for maintenance action.