Commercial Fixed Wing
Situational Awareness
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Aircraft
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged
Airport; Procedure; Human Factors
During a push out an accident occurred. Because of the tight turn that has to be made on that gate; the lead on the pushback made a sharp cut to avoid going over the zipper line on the push out. While pulling back; he realized that he was too far over the service road; therefore he pushed it up some more as a means of adjustment. He then proceeded to pull back once more; and I; the wing walker noticed that a cart connected to a tug was in the way. I asked the pushback driver to stop; so that I could move the object out of the way (as a precautionary measure). Once that was done; I gave him the go ahead to recommence the pull back. It was then that I looked up (with the glare of the sun in my eyes); and noticed that we were dangerously close to the wing of the aircraft on [an adjacent gate]. I hastily gave him the signal to stop the pull ASAP; while jumping up and down; screaming at the top of my lungs to regain his attention. But unfortunately it came through about half a second too late; as the damage was done.
I would like to add that wireless headsets are an option on [this gate]; but wired headset also are available. I chose to use wired headset due to the times I had used the wireless headset the communication is real bad (communication breaks up and a lot of static). I had brought up these issues to safety department. Also push outs on [this gate] are dangerous due to many obstacles such as being a zipper line directly behind the gate which minimizes how far back you can push out; aircraft push out is on a slope; push out is also minimized by a short wall directly behind the aircraft as it's turning out. Aircraft push out is also limited when there is an aircraft on [the adjacent gate] minimizing swing out. Also by putting a tail cart behind the aircraft limits even more your swing out of aircraft; make a note during push out I came to a stop and my wing walker had to move tail cart out of the way. Due to all these obstacles it is very hard to concentrate and look at one specific area during a push.
Aircraft tug driver and his wing walker reported they struck another aircraft on an adjacent gate during pushback procedure.