NO TOW

[prasanna]

I am not in the field of aviation , but am curious. the other day , in india , i saw , painted on , i think an airbus , the words "NO TOW" on the nose wheel landing gear doors. i saw this on two or three aircraft. what does it mean ...i suppose it means don't tow ...but how does one then tow such an aircraft , eg into a maintenance hangar ?

i hope my question is not too basic. infact , i would like to suggest that pprune have a separate forum for us , so that it doesn't detract from the seroius aviator. perhaps such a forum could be called something like "passenger-pilots" ! ;)

[Checkboard]

Ahh, but there is such a forum! Two, in fact:

The Questions (http://www.pprune.org/cgibin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum&f=57) forum states:
"If you have a question for professional pilots please post it here. If it isn't a Rumour or News then this is where you will probably find it.", which is where this type of general question usually recieves the fastest answer, and the

Passenger & SLF (http://www.pprune.org/cgibin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum&f=51) forum is for less operational and more general information that passengers like to ask.
"If you are regularly a passenger on any airline then why not post your views or questions here? Many of us pilots like to know exactly what you think of us, the job, the airline or anything that you think we should hear about."

(SLF stands for "Self loading freight", a pilot nickname for passengers ;) )

In any case, welcome to PPRuNe, I have transfered your question to the "questions" forum, you will find it (and hopefully your answers, there.)

[John Farley]

Nose legs are primarily designed to accept landing loads which do not produce high fore and aft forces. Since push back from a stand is clearly a design case they have to be strong enough to accept those forces. Perhaps the linkage of the design you saw was better able to accept a push than a pull. In which case you would have to stuff it in the hangar backwards.

[PaperTiger]

In which case you would have to stuff it in the hangar backwards. Where it would then remain forever ? :)
Haven't seen the a/c in question, but it could be the 'No Tow' legend was behind the arc marker on the gear doors. Most just have a vertical line to indicate the max towbar angle, maybe the Indians felt the need to be a bit more specific. Just guessing.

[John Farley]

PaperTiger

That sounds a much better idea. Sometimes my brain farts.