Push-back
The moment a tug pushes the aircraft off the stand — doors closed and armed, cabin secure, and the clock on block time starts.
Definition
Push-back is the procedure in which a ground tug pushes the aircraft backward off its parking position, since airliners cannot safely reverse under their own power. It marks off-blocks — the point at which block time, and at most airlines your flying pay, begins. Before push-back the doors must be closed and armed, cross-checked and the cabin-secure report passed to the flight deck.
What it means for you
Push-back is the deadline everything before it works toward: boarding finished, bags stowed, doors armed and cross-checked, headcount agreed. If your cabin-secure call is late, the push-back is late and the delay is chargeable to the cabin. It is also, at hourly-paid carriers, the second your pay clock starts running.
In practice
The purser on a Lufthansa A320 at Frankfurt reports "cabin secure" over the interphone, the captain confirms, and the tug pushes the aircraft back at the scheduled departure minute — the moment the crew's flying pay starts.
Related terms
4 terms- Door armingSafety & trainingSetting a cabin door so the escape slide deploys automatically when it is opened — done before push-back, undone after arrival.
- Cross-checkSafety & trainingA colleague verifying that the door opposite yours is armed or disarmed as commanded — the double-check that prevents slide deployments.
- Cabin secureSafety & trainingThe crew's confirmation to the flight deck that the cabin is ready for take-off or landing: seatbelts, galleys, exits and crew seated.
- TaxiFlight operationsThe aircraft moving on the ground under its own power between the stand and the runway — a sterile phase for cabin crew.