B737-900
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General Physical Injury / Incapacitation
Company Policy
As reported repeatedly; as recently as last week; requesting clarification and tightening of procedure for meeting 737-900 which requires a tail stand. This is the 3rd incident I've encountered in the last week. There appears to be a question as to what responsibility the zone controller has in informing ramp agents that the flight on the ground is a 737-900. In this instance the zone controller said he called the flight on the ground and the agent acknowledged with tail stand ready. The problem being and irregular weather operation day and manpower being at a shortage; staffing requested another ramp agent to leave what he was doing at one gate and run around the corner to meet this arrival. In his haste; he was completely unaware it might be a 737-900 and pulled up to the flight; although he did receive a signal from a ramp agent to move forward. Once the jetway was in place he moved to the lobby of the gate to greet the flight. It was there we received a call from the flight crew stating the jetway needed to be fixed as a lady just fell. The agent went down the jetway and reported to me that the jetway had dropped about 6 inches. There was no jetway alarm that sounded. Customer walked off the jetway and did not stop to talk to me at the top. We were not able to gather any information regarding the identity of who it was that fell.
Ramp Controller reported requiring guidance on the B737-900 since the aircraft requires a tail stand.