B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness; Training / Qualification; Communication Breakdown; Confusion
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Staffing; Human Factors; Procedure; Company Policy
On two separate occasions the tug driver was unable to successfully push the aircraft off the gate and onto the taxi line in the alley. On the first event the Tug Driver almost had the airplane jack knifed before we were even out of the Safety Zone. There were aircraft on both adjacent gates. I told her to stop the push. Another Ramp person saw what was happening and replaced her on the tug. We had started the No. 2 engine and had to shut it down so that we could be pulled forward back to the gate and then pushed out again of course trying to explain to Ground what was going on.The second event; again the Tug Driver was having trouble pushing the aircraft back and before I could tell him to stop the push; he jack knifed the tug and broke the towbar. Again a Ramp person got out of a deicing truck and came over to assist. He got on the headset and said he would be completing the pushback once they got a different towbar. I explained to him that this was second time in a matter of a couple days that we had trouble and asked him if he knew what was going on. He stated that the Ramp personnel were not properly trained to be moving aircraft anymore. We again had to let Ground know that we were going to have the alley blocked until a new towbar could be found. I was also concerned about potential damage to the aircraft nose gear. The Passengers are also aware when the aircraft is being jerked all over during pushback.Obviously this is a huge safety concern and could have hugely expensive consequences if we have people attempting to move aircraft that don't know what they are doing; not to mention the safety hazard to other Ground personnel. Someone needs to be accountable for not properly training and supervising Ramp personnel that are moving our aircraft before we have extensive damage done or someone hurt.
B737 Captain reported two pushback events at the same airport during which different tug drivers placed the aircraft's nose gear in a jack knifed position severe enough that a more experienced ramp agent was required to reposition the aircraft properly. Poor training was cited.