B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 128; Flight Crew Type 3332
Training / Qualification; Situational Awareness
Conflict Ground Conflict; Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
Flight Crew Became Reoriented
Human Factors
We were pushing back to be decided in ANC. Pre-Brief in cockpit with type and all we had was frost on wings from fueling. Pushback was normal SOP up until 'set brakes' from the ground crew. The next command was to configure for de-icing and I said standby. We configured and deiced per the checklist. De-ice was completed followed by the following command. Ground said 'Cleared to start engines and Aircraft is clear'. I said clear to start to the FO and we started the engines. During this process I realized that things were different and I did not see a Marshal out front and I asked the FO if he saw the tractor and he said yes. I then mentally assumed that the contract operations people disconnected on their own and just left the area. I never got the tow bar call but knew the crew had indeed left the scene. No Marshal out front and we ran after start checklist and flow and call for taxi. Cleared to taxi and I then turned the light on and released the parking brake. We never moved due to the communication from the person still hooked up to the aircraft. Reset parking brake and the person ran out front with arms crossed and I flashed him and he ran off toward the gate. We then composed ourselves and called ops about the Marshal position and lack of communication.
A few points I should mention. One; I was listening to the flight interphone during the pushback process so I heard most of the ground calls to the Captain. Two; at no point during the pushback did we ever have a guide person out in front of the aircraft with wands. Third; during the engine start the Captain asked me if I saw a tug anywhere on my side of the aircraft. I told him I thought there was one over by the deicing trucks away from the aircraft. With the engines started the Captain called for flaps and the after start checklist. After the flows and checklist were completed the Captain asked for taxi clearance. I called and we were given [taxi] instructions. The Captain reached up and turned on the taxi light while releasing the parking brake. At that time I heard the headset operator on the flight interphone ask if it was ok to disconnect. I told the Captain to stop the aircraft. He set the brake and asked if that was the headset operator on the interphone. I told him it was and I went ahead and told the headset operator to disconnect. We were both very surprised that he was still attached to the aircraft! At no point during the pushback did either of us hear a 'tow bar disconnected; bypass pin removed' call from the ground even though the tug and towbar were no longer attached to the aircraft. The headset operator HIMSELF then ran out in front of the aircraft and gave us a hold position indication. The Captain gave him a taxi light flash and he ran off. It was at that point that we realized that we never had a guideman out in front of the aircraft with a headset operator still connected. We took a minute to discuss what just happened and we decided that I would call into the station on the radio and let them know that the absence of a guideman with wands in front of the aircraft almost caused a serious problem. They station acknowledged and we taxied out for an uneventful departure.
B737 flight crew reported ramp personnel deviations from SOP during and after pushback created an unsafe situation.