The tow-bar-less pushback tug

"You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much" (youcantellafinn)
03/12/2014 at 11:43 • Filed to: TRUCK YEAH, PLANELOPNIK

This morning at work we got to talking about how much weight is on the nose gear of an airplane. It came up because I had watched a video of a B-1B landing on Rogers Dry Lake because the nose gear didn't extend. Someone made a joking comment about having a pickup drive along and catch the nose. So I made an offhand comment that the truck would need to be able to go 150 mph and be able to hold 100,000 pounds. Which for the B-1 is a pretty big overestimate, but for something like a 747 or similar is probably pretty close to the ballpark.

This got me remembering the first time I saw a tow-bar-less pushback tug. My first thought was that it was a brilliant idea since you didn't have to screw around with hooking and unhooking tow bars, and it would make changing directions much easier. My second thought was "wow, that thing needs to lift some serious weight". I was so impressed that I had to take a picture of it. That's right, I'm the guy taking pictures of industrial equipment when I'm on vacation.

Looking at this picture I was able to get enough information to do some Googling. Turns out that I photographed a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . This particular pushback tug has a lift capacity of 50t metric, or about 110,000 pounds. It has a deadweight of 33,200 kg (~73,000 lbs) and is powered by a 440 kW (590 hp) Deutz TCD 2015 V08. These feature hydrostatic four wheel drive, most likely to deal with the fact that you can't put an axle between the rear wheels. It is capable of moving widebody airliners up to the A380, though if you need to move an A380 you need to spring for the XL version which has more power and is slightly wider and heavier. Interestingly enough the XL has the same 50t capacity as the standard AM500.

The AM500 has some interesting features to make life on the tarmac a little easier. The cab can be lifted slightly to improve visibility when hooking up an airplane. The dash seat and pedals are all mounted on a turntable that allows the operator to face in either direction while operating the tug. The controls are conveniently tied in to the turntable so that they automatically match the direction the operator is facing.

Here is a video showing how this type of tug lifts the nose gear:

And here is a longer tug drivers view of a 747 pushback:

And here is a 10 minute long video of a KLM ground crew members last day at Amsterdam Schipol. It comes complete with rousing theme music soundtrack. DISCLAIMER: I watched the first minute and decided to post it here based on soundtrack alone.

The first picture is mine, the second from the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

DISCUSSION (18)

ttyymmnn > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
03/12/2014 at 11:48

That's pretty awesome. I would guess that the towbar is required for smaller airplanes that you can't get under with a vehicle. That DC-10/MD-11 sits quite high off the ground.

And no, you're not the only person who takes pictures of the industrial equipment!

Jayhawk Jake > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
03/12/2014 at 11:57

On the topic of taking pictures of industrial equipment:

When I was in high school, I think it was junior year, my dad and I went to an air show. It was in Houston, so the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft was on display. I was taking tons of pictures of random things like landing gear, shuttle attach points, etc. My dad was giving me a hard time about taking pictures of landing gear because it's uninteresting and silly.

Fast forward about 5 or 6 years, I'm an engineer at an airplane company and I go on a trip to an airplane graveyard where I'm tasked with taking as many pictures as possible of various parts and pieces of airplanes.

For Sweden > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
03/12/2014 at 11:59

V08 engines are the most German of engines. Unlike V8s, V08s come before V10s in alphabetic order.

FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 > ttyymmnn
03/12/2014 at 12:23

They make smaller ones for regional jets too. They use this type at DCA for all the regional jets that land there.

Kinja'd!!!

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > ttyymmnn
03/12/2014 at 12:24

Googling shows they make much smaller versions. I'm guessing if it has nose gear they make something small enough to do the job.

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > For Sweden
03/12/2014 at 12:26

German efficiency and organization at its peak right there.

STAGGERED-6 > ttyymmnn
03/12/2014 at 12:27

Kinja'd!!!

The smaller planes don't always need a tow bar. The J100s electric tugs sit pretty low so you can get up under the nose of smaller aircraft. We used these when I was a ramp sup in Phoenix for amwest express CRJs. The 900s loaded out were pretty damn heavy and large for a regional jet. Stand ups were used mainly on our dash8s and beech 1900s.

Blind Willy > Jayhawk Jake
03/12/2014 at 12:28

Sounds like you got your dream job :)

Jayhawk Jake > Blind Willy
03/12/2014 at 13:20

More or less. Sadly because real life is hard I don't get to do really cool stuff like that all that often. There are very few things I'd rather do though, especially when you consider salary.

For example, I'd love to just work at a hobby shop or similar and talk/work on/fly RC planes all day, but then I wouldn't make enough money to do anything I like.

Dusty Ventures > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
03/12/2014 at 13:42

I worked for Northwest Airlines for a while and we had a similar size tug of the towbar variety. Two reverse gears, six (eight?) forward gears, and still a top speed of less than 30. I loved that goofy thing.

f86sabre > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
03/12/2014 at 14:09

Rough rule of thumb is the nose gear carries about 10% of an aircraft's weight. That is what you would need to address for vertical load. The rest is rolling friction and dealing with the inertia of the aircraft.

Ryanator122 > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
03/12/2014 at 14:13

Wait, the stall speed of a B1 is 150 MPH? I thought it would be a BIT lower. I thought the point of variable geometry wings was more lift at low speeds...

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > Ryanator122
03/12/2014 at 15:20

I was just pulling a ballpark number out of my ass. Not sure what the B-1 stall speed is.

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > f86sabre
03/12/2014 at 16:20

Thanks for that info. I figured 20-25% as the upper limit, but that was basically a SWAG on my part.

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > Dusty Ventures
03/12/2014 at 16:22

Yeah, they have an incredible amount of power but top speed isn't really their thing. I'd still love to drive one though. The AM500 tops out at 30 kph (18 mph).

Dusty Ventures > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
03/12/2014 at 16:36

It's not the top speed of 25 that I found comical as much as it was that it took six gears to get to 25. That basically means each gear spanned 4 mph

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > Dusty Ventures
03/12/2014 at 16:40

Just think if they added a couple more gears. You might have got to 35.

bobert-the-bob > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
03/13/2014 at 21:22

I remember when Delta got their "supertug". It's cool and all but I prefer the classic T180!!