Commercial Fixed Wing
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 100; Flight Crew Type 10000
Training / Qualification
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
General None Reported / Taken
Human Factors
As the Captain; I noticed several very odd behaviors from the ramp personnel in three particular areas. I will list in order of occurring but not severity.After I inquired if we were to receive ground AC air; I noticed it took an extremely long time for the connection to be made. I watched one of the ramp agents try to connect the hose; but it was obvious he did not know how to accomplish this. After many; many failed attempts I signaled down to another ramp agent and asked if there was a problem; no big deal as I can simply use the APU. They relayed that it was to be working soon. They continued to have problems hooking up the air and then deciding which button to push to turn it on. I closely watched this all happen; no exaggerations I promise.When it came time for pushback; they notified me that they did not have any operable headsets (wired or wireless). I said 'no problem; but we need to brief hand signals.' They had no idea what I was talking about and gave me some pushback when I explained the necessity of such a briefing/understanding.No sooner than five seconds after we briefed; I felt the aircraft lurching backwards several times. I quickly realized they were attempting to push back the aircraft. I had not given the command nor was ready. When I looked out the window; the signal ramp agent was looking at the tug and not me. I opened the window and started yelling to stop. They did stop and I asked what was going on and once again reviewed the hand signal and pushback plan. Pushback then proceeded with a four-man push.During this short pushback; and reflecting on the complete communication breakdown; I then realized I had no idea what the signal was for telling them to stop if I had deemed necessary. I could not find anything in the FOM/AOM for a Pilot signaling this request. I believe these ground crew members were not well trained based on this brief encounter. I have not ever witnessed these types of deficiencies before.I do not recall if these were contract or company crews but they clearly were not well versed in our procedures. If there is not a pilot hand signal for stopping; there should be one clearly listed in our books. I have since heard from former other carrier pilots that they used flashing the taxi light. That is brilliant as it clearly would be evident to the tug driver. I was not that clever or quick when this happened to me; but I will use it next time for sure.
Air carrier Captain reported ramp crew had multiple deviations from SOP during pushback.