Efficient and smooth ground handling operations are key to efficient aviation. In this guide, we explore how airports can optimize their ground handling to improve aircraft safety. Learn more on how remote-controlled tugs, as compared to traditional ground handling techniques, enhance aircraft safety using advanced ground handling technologies.
Airport Ground Handling Services and Aircraft Ground Damage
Ground handling operations are the backbone of the aviation industry. Airport ground handling services include all aspects of aircraft handling at the airport, among others, towing aircraft, marshalling, and parking, as well as maintenance services provided by fixed base operators (FBOs). These services are integral to aircraft safety and to ensuring efficient airport operations: They conduct or support inspections and maintenance checks, making sure the aircraft meets all safety standards required before the next flight.
Ground handling teams are responsible for moving aircraft safely, reducing the risk of collision and aircraft ground damage. However, aircraft ground movement, or aircraft towing and push-back, is the ground operation with most risk involved. Ground handling safety events and ramp-related incidents can have serious and costly consequences, including personnel injury, operational delays and schedule disruptions, as well as damage to the aircraft or equipment.
Ground accidents accumulate up to billions of US $ costs per year – with large shares of ground damage costs often not covered by insurance. As a recent ground damage report by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimates, the annual cost of ground damage could double to $ 10 billion by 2035 unless preventive action is taken.
The importance of effective ground handling services in ensuring aviation safety has also recently been recognised by the European Commission with the first publication of ground handling safety regulations. These new ground handling rules were developed by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and cover all activities taking place on the ground to prepare the aircraft and passengers for departure and arrival. The new regulations aim at the integration of Safety Management Systems (SMS) and need to be implemented by 2028.
Ground Support Equipment’s Role in Aircraft Ground Damage
“Widebody aircraft experience a ten times higher ground damage rate than narrowbody aircraft.”
According to the IATA’s recent ground damage report, ground support equipment operations are one of the main causes for aircraft ground damage. The study finds that:
- Most ground damage that occurs while the aircraft is stationary is caused by motorized ground support equipment (GSE) colliding with the fuselage.
- The ground damage rate of widebody aircraft is ten times higher than narrowbody aircraft.
- Regional jets, turboprops, and narrowbody aircraft are 30 percent more susceptible to severe ground damage than widebody aircraft.
- With 40 percent, the key GSE types causing aircraft ground damage are belt-loaders, DFicargo-loaders, passenger stairs and passenger boarding bridges.
The IATA’s ground damage study identifies advanced GSE as a central means of addressing the challenge of aircraft ground damage. Accordingly, the IATA calls for a transition to enhanced ground support equipment, i.e. GSE with anti-collision systems, in order to effectively reduce the risk of ground damage.
“40% of all ground damage cases involve belt-loaders, passenger stairs, or passenger boarding bridges — making these the top GSE risk categories.”
Let’s take a closer look at advanced GSE technologies: How do airports successfully lay the groundwork for safe operating principles? What latest innovations in ground handling enhance aircraft safety and the efficiency of airport operations?
Our Guide: How can Airports Enhance Aircraft Safety through Advanced Ground Handling?
Automation and advanced ground support equipment play an important role in improving aircraft safety during ground handling operations, by increasing precision and reducing the risk of collision as well as of human error. Modern GSE with enhanced aircraft safety systems, such as remote-controlled tugs, significantly increase aircraft safety compared to traditional techniques such as conventional tractors with a tow bar or tugs with a rotary table.
Aircraft Safety: The Main Disadvantages of Traditional Aircraft Tugs
Traditional aircraft tugs come with a number of disadvantages when it comes to aircraft safety:
First and foremost, conventional tugs use a tow bar to connect to the aircraft, usually somewhere on the nose landing gear assembly. However, the process of physically attaching the tow bar to the airplane is an enormously hazardous task and offers ample risk for damage to the aircraft, let alone for physical injuries. The same is true of towbarless tugs that connect to the aircraft with a winch, strap, or adapter.
Further major disadvantages of traditional tugs with a tow bar are blind spots due to restricted visibility. From the position next to the nose gear, the operator simply cannot maintain an overview of the airplane’s dimensions. The same is true for traditional towbarless sit down tugs, where the operator is seated facing directly towards the aircraft at all times. These tugs therefore require a wing walker to guide the operator while moving the aircraft, which is, however, not only problematic in times of personnel shortages. There is also a significant safety risk for instance of collision of the aircraft with another object due to miscommunication.
In addition, conventional tractors with a tow bar and even towbarless sit down tugs reach their limits in precisely moving aircraft in tight quarters. When parking aircraft in the hangar, the lack of precise maneuverability and the need for space to uncouple and remove the tug, poses potential risk of collision with parked aircraft or equipment.
Enhancing Aircraft Safety: The Main Advantages of Remote-Controlled, Towbarless Mototok Tugs
Remotely controlled, towbarless aircraft tugs are an enormous improvement in terms of ground handling and aircraft safety. Fully-electric, towbarless Mototok tugs with remote control have several advantages compared to any other type of aircraft tug in the industry worldwide, the five key advantages of which we have discussed in our blog post “Mototok Aircraft Tugs: Business Case Example for the Acquisition”.
Unrivaled in their safety, Mototok tugs contribute to significantly improve operational safety and efficiency, enabling airports to mitigate risks of ground damage and optimize aircraft performance. Here are the main advantages of remote-controlled, towbarless Mototok tugs in increasing aircraft safety during ground handling operations:
Unobstructed Visibility
Remote-controlled aircraft tugs offer unobstructed visibility, thus significantly reducing the risk of collision and enhancing aircraft safety. Remote-controlled Mototok tugs guarantee 100 percent circumferential visibility, as they allow the operator to move freely around the aircraft and to see every sensitive point. He or she may even stand some yards away from the nose or tail and walk with the aircraft, while safely pushing it towards its destination. Thanks to the remote control feature, the operator’s eyes, then, never leave the aircraft while it is in movement.
Ease of Use and Unparalleled Safety
The remote control feature and towbarless design of Mototok tugs ensure unparalleled ease of use and safety. Given that they are intuitive to operate, no special license, but only minimal training is required for ground handling personnel.
A remote-controlled Mototok tug can, moreover, safely be operated by a single person thanks to circumferential visibility. This frees up personnel, reduces personnel costs and significantly reduces the risk of collisions and damage to the aircraft due to inadequate communication.
Automatic Nose Gear Loading
Most accidents that occur when engaging or disengaging the nose gear are due to human error and can be entirely avoided with a Mototok. For, with a Mototok tug, loading and unloading the nose gear is quick, simple and safe thanks to a unique automatic hydraulic and sensor-controlled system that is microprocessor controlled and can never be altered. This automatic connection and disconnection of the nose gear minimizes the risk exposure of both aircraft and operators.
Moreover, thanks to the fully automated process, loading and unloading the nose gear with a Mototok only takes 10 to 15 seconds and is thus extremely time efficient. Mototok tugs connect to 99 percent of corporate aircraft and helicopters, whether single or double wheel.
Remote-controlled precision
Thanks to their precise maneuverability, towbarless, remote-controlled Mototok tugs enhance the safety of hangar operations. A Mototok allows operators to park additional aircraft safely in space-optimized manner, in less time and with less risk of accidents causing damage to aircraft. Moreover, given its low and compact design as well as automatic nose gear loading and unloading, there is no need to consider an exit path for a Mototok.
Further Safety Features
- In contrast to traditional tugs, Mototok tugs are equipped with programmable speed limits and oversteer limits, preventing severe damage to the aircraft when oversteered. Additionally, Mototok tugs are able to turn the aircraft’s nose gear on the spot without shunt, which creates several additional options in hangar operations.
- Electric tugs, in contrast to conventional diesel tugs, make no noise and thus do not distract the operator while maneuvering the aircraft.
- In contrast to traditional tugs, remote-controlled, towbarless tugs brake instantly, including on predesignated positions.
- Severely reduced braking action during adverse weather conditions, such as ice or snow, makes traditional tugs prone to sliding into parked aircraft or equipment, or even encroaching onto active runways. This enormous safety risk is minimized with a Mototok, which can be employed in the most adverse conditions thanks to its sturdy design and the fact that the aircraft nose landing gear is cradled onto the tug, adding tremendously to the traction and braking.
Enhanced Aircraft Safety through Autonomous Aircraft Tugs
The future of ground handling and pushback operations is going to be entirely autonomous by use of Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs). Such autonomous tugs will, of course, have human oversight and human override control.
AGVs almost entirely eliminate the element of human error which is the most common cause of accidents and aircraft safety incidents. These machines position themselves precisely, move the aircraft at a perfectly regulated pace, eliminating the risk of aircraft taxiing too fast, and significantly reduce the risk of aircraft taking incorrect turns (incursions). It is only a matter of time before autonomous tugs will become the standard principle.
Conclusion on Ground Handling’s Role in Aircraft Safety
Safe ground handling is foundational to successful airside operations and plays a critical role in aircraft safety. Ground handling safety events and aircraft ground damage not only amount to high costs, impacting airport budgets. They can also seriously disrupt schedules and pose safety risks to both passengers and personnel. Ground handling practices can significantly enhance aircraft safety and reduce risks: Using advanced ground support equipment (GSE) is an excellent step in operational risk management.
Compared to traditional tugs with a tow bar, advanced, remote-controlled and towbarless tugs significantly improve operational and aircraft safety. These advanced GSE mitigate risks and optimize aircraft performance through features such as precise maneuverability, unobstructed visibility, ease of use, and automatic nose gear loading. The future of ground handling operations, is, moreover, most likely to be completely autonomous, with autonomous tugs eliminating human error as one of the main causes for ground damage.
We are happy to help you find out more about how remote-controlled, towbarless Mototok tugs can help you improve aircraft safety during your ground handling operations, thereby enhancing efficiency and saving high amounts of costs.
Comments