Date: 202011
Location: ZZZ.Airport, US
Aircraft: Commercial Fixed Wing
Operator: Air Carrier
Flight phase: Taxi
Reporter organization: Air Carrier
Reporter function: Vehicle Driver
Human factors: Time Pressure; Other / Unknown; Situational Awareness
Anomaly: Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
Contributing factors: Human Factors; Environment - Non Weather Related; Staffing
Primary problem: Human Factors

Narrative: I was assigned today to operate SuperTug X; a towbarless aircraft tow tractor; while working at ZZZ.  After towing the aircraft to Gate X; after disconnecting the SuperTug and while attempting to maneuver away; I made light contact with the pushback tractor which was parked behind me.  At the time; I was feeling rushed; because I knew there were more tows scheduled for us and there was also someone waiting for me to clear the area so he could connect the ground power to the aircraft.  While backing up I felt that I had the proper radius in the turn to clear the parked pushback but apparently did not; and made a light inadvertent contact with either the SuperTug hitch or bumper.  I did notice that on this and a few other occasions that day; because I was wearing a different than usual but still company issued face mask; my depth perception seemed to be affected as the mask kept creeping up into my peripheral vision.  I think this was a factor in my misjudging the turn in what were already very confined conditions.  Another issue is that the SuperTug onboard GPU had recently been repaired; and we were using it for the first time in months; with a commensurate disruption to normal workflow.  Although I thought I had clearance at the time; in retrospect I should have taken a minute to move the pushback and reduce the risk.  There was no pushback parking spot painted at this gate; so it was parked right against the edge of the OSZ [Outer Safety Zone]; even there there was approximately 80 additional linear feet of space behind it available to park.  Even if I had moved it; I doubt there was a user check performed on it that day; and therefore moving it without doing one myself would technically put me in violation.  There are many more things that can be taken into consideration than just the blatantly obvious in a situational dynamic environment like an airport.  Because the contact I made felt light; and I know from experience that the equipment is built to take that kind of minor impact; I made the snap decision to continue with the operation.  If you take a look at any piece of airport ground equipment; including SuperTugs; it will immediately become apparent that it is literally covered with innumerable scratches and dents or varying severity; and if we would stop to report and investigate each one; the operation would literally grind to a halt.  Therefore; it was my decision in this instance; based on my experience; observations; and common sense to continue.  There were other factors which came into play in this decision; which I will briefly expand upon.  I need to be clear that if this situation had been one in which I had reason to suspect that there was damage to equipment or even the possibility of damage to an aircraft; that I would have stopped and reported it at once.  In this instance I deemed that it would be unreasonable to bring it up.Today was the X day back from my vacation of Y days; and when checking my work assignments for the month; this was only my Z day assigned to a SuperTug for the month; and the first assigned to X brand SuperTug.  The other days I was at work during this time I was assigned to auxiliary functions.  I believe this is significant in that it feels that this period of lack of hands-on experience caused a perception that my skills may have deteriorated or that I had become rusty.  To that point; I noticed that I was taking some calculated risks; most notably when maneuvering on the gate areas; especially around stationary ground equipment; while preparing to capture or egressing from the vicinity of aircraft.  My reasoning for this; and which I explained to the Supervisor during the course of the day; was that I was attempting to refresh or hone my skills; which I felt may have become dulled.  Another way to put it is that I was trying to find my corners; as persons who operate various types of vehicles say when describing how they feel or sense where the vehicle is in relation to the surrounding environment.  While doing this I felt that I was on point; secure and aware of myself and tasks at hand.  I could say that in fact I was over-zealous or over-confident; too gung ho; and I should have taken a step back at some point and put all this information together; which I only do now after the fact.  I would have to say that the primary reason I did not take that step back was workload / task saturation and distraction; described as follows:Because of the substantial number of people who were not able to work; apparently due to the public health crisis yet ongoing; the manpower available was at or just over half of which would normally be on the team on a given shift.  There was not a substantial reduction in workload; and we had what I would consider based on precedent to be a moderately but not excessively heavy day.  There was therefore an underlying perception of increased pressure to perform; especially in consideration of supporting the needs of the operation because of the diminished staffing during an unusually trying time.I had also noticed multiple issues during the day; which could have been brought to the attention of management or also could have been overlooked and dealt with at a time of less operational urgency.  The most notable of those issues were; a broken seat belt in the SuperTug; radios whose display units were not lighted and hence not visible after sunset; and all the fire extinguishers on the SuperTug were missing the inspection placards.  Additionally; no less than three sets or portable stairs that we used during the day had operational deficiencies which would have deemed them unsafe or usable; and which I have been seriously doing a report on.  For any or all of these reasons or others; I could have stopped the operation.  I chose not to so as not to interrupt the operational tempo but more so because these types of inconsistencies are regularly not recognized as such but instead accepted as the norm; and ignored and worked around; regularly and without second thought or concern.  For a company that emphasizes a focus safety as the primary value; in actuality the primary  focus appears more to be; unless there is a glaring issue present; in many but not all instances; getting the task accomplished with little or no regard given to risk mitigation.  This attitude is part of the culture of this workforce; is long going; omnipresent and systemic.  Combined with other negative attitudes and attributes it conspires to create a corporation which says one thing; and does another.  To an employee who wants to do the right thing because of the recognition of the fact that it is mutually beneficial to do so;  working in this environment can be disheartening; frustrating and disappointing.  To be frankly honest; I feel quite often that I am being singled out on occasion for attempting to bring these sorts of things to light; and that local management's attitude towards me is becoming that; if you want to hold us accountable then we will do the same towards you; watch you like a hawk and bring to bear any issue or inconsistency in your performance also.  This does feel to me to be somewhat unfair; at times.  When I decide to bring an issue to light; I give it careful consideration; more than I probably should; and more often than not I keep quiet about it; do my job and let management do theirs.  We should be striving to work together; especially in a critical time such as this now is.I do admit that at some point during the day; I should have recognized that the pressure levels were increasing and should have voluntarily and proactively taken a few minutes to step back and regain composure and reintegrate myself appropriately into the operational flow.  I did not do so largely because of operational pressure but also due to the distraction caused by various inconsistencies I described; keeping a running mental tally of these while still maintaining a focus on my tasks. Based on my analysis of the events of this situation; I consider that it would be more likely that I take a pause given another encounter of a similar chain of events.




Synopsis: Tow vehicle driver reported making contact with a pushback tractor while towing an aircraft to a gate.