B767-300 and 300 ER
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Object
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged
Human Factors
After arriving in ZZZ and dealing with some taxiing issues; we eventually stopped the aircraft on a taxiway. We were marshaled to a stop in front of a tow tug by a ground crew. I stopped the aircraft and set the parking brake. While sitting there; I made several attempts to contact the tow crew while they were hooking up to the aircraft. Nobody ever got on the headset or tried to give me hand signals to coordinate the tow. After a couple minutes I saw the Marshaller walking away from us. At the same time we felt the aircraft start lurching as the tug started trying to tow us. The driver made 3-4 attempts to start the tow. I tried again to contact them on the interphone while waving the Marshaller back to the plane. Using hand signals; I was finally able to determine they were ready for brake release. I released the parking brake and the tow started. After being towed straight ahead for 15-20 seconds we heard a loud banging noise and the aircraft lurched. I stopped the aircraft and set the parking brake. No one ever made any attempt to communicate with us. After a couple minutes we saw the ground crew walking away from the aircraft. Over the next 20 minutes; I called call Ground control; maintenance; and the chief pilot. I had the FO call out the window to get anyone on the interphone to tell us what was happening. Eventually maintenance arrived and connected the interphone and told me that the tow crew did not connect the steering bypass pin and that after the tow bar broke free from the nose gear; the aircraft rolled over the tow bar. That is the point where I stopped and the nose gear was on top of the tow bar.
B767 Captain reported the towbar broke free and the nose gear rolled over the towbar. The ground crew did not connect the steering bypass pin.