Having been a pushback driver on/off both here and in France for the last 8 years whilst completing my CPL/IR, I have experience of both sides of what has turned into a discussion about 'cowboy' pushback drivers. The attitude of certain flight decks is that they are superior to everyone, because they fly the plane. Don't forget where you started in life, not all of us had rich mummies and daddies, went to OAT and fly just for the distinction of being a pilot. A lot of us have had to struggle and penny pinch our way to the flight deck, working crap hours in all weathers to get into something we truly love.
Anyhow! As was previously stated, shear pins in towbars are only replaced when they break. They can break if you turn the a/c too much, accelerate too hard/fast, brake too hard or if the bypass pin is not in place. Uneven taxiways and drains do not help either.
However, whoever is on the flight deck has an vital part to play, whether it be the pilot or an engineer. On several occaisions, I have asked flight to release the park brake, only to find that in fact the brake is still set, hence BANG! Shear pin gone. (Not a nice situation if you only have one bar for that a/c type and there is no mt guy around!) A friend of mine also had his foot ran over by an Antonov (luckily not one of the biggies!)because the crew hadn't realised that they had rolled forward over 6ft!
The lack of knowledge of handsignals on the flight deck is shocking and I have witnessed crews writing the checks in huge letters "ARE THE CHECKS DONE?" then when asked to release the brakes, they end up opening the window and shouting "What?"
ATC also have a part to play, just last night I heard a tug with a 737 attached to "expedite as fast as the tug can go!" Why give clearance to cross a runway if there was traffic on a 6mile final?
Rant over, just remember we're all on this earth together. What did you learn in CRM? Work together, don't just blame the man at the bottom of the pile.
