The Ground Handling Blog

Let’s talk about aircraft tugs. Most of you still own traditional tow tractors with gas engines - a solution that worked more or less reliably for many years. There is a viable alternative though: Electric aircraft tugs, a relatively new technology that has much to offer. And while electric whizzes might give a DIY electric aircraft tug a shot, for all others, we have summed up the advantages of existing state-of-the-art models. And in all seriousness: Their biggest downside is that they make it so easy to move aircraft that it’s easy to get complacent.

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Let’s acknowledge it: Traditional aircraft tow tugs and trucks are uncomfortable beasts from the past, designed in the 80s or even 70s, with inconvenient, time consuming and high-risk needs for tie down winches, straps, adapters; the corresponding nose gear lift cradle reminiscent of a shovel – practically farm tractors on steroids. Still, they’re kept around for decades – they’ve been paid for, right?

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Nobody ever said that ramps and aprons were particularly safe places, but the notion that ground accidents accumulate costs up to US$10 billion/year remains dumbfounding.

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