Planes collide on 'runway' at Heathrow.
Originally Posted by Epsomdog
Pushbacks from stand 323 at LHR are one of the most difficult. The stand is the last at the end of the cul-de-sac, so a straight push followed by a 90deg left turn is not possible. Push backs incorporate a dog leg, where the aircraft is pushed with the tail towards the cul-de-sac entrance and then rotated through 180deg, to end up with the main wheels astride the taxiway centreline. The wingtip on the outside of the turning arc is invariably hidden from the view of the tug driver, so it requires a wingman to closely monitor the wingtip and stay within the tug drivers field of vision at the same time. On a large aircraft that is not easy, as the wingtip can be moving faster than you can walk, during a turn. I can’t tell from the picture if the tug has a driving position at each end. If it’s a single ended tug, then there’s an added challenge in that the driver would be reversing the tug during the pushback, so they will be ready to tow once the push is completed.
In my 50 years as a LAE at Heathrow I have completed many pushbacks from this stand. It takes a great deal of care and practice to get this one right.
In my 50 years as a LAE at Heathrow I have completed many pushbacks from this stand. It takes a great deal of care and practice to get this one right.
- are the white hatched lines ///// on the south-corner tarmac of 325 (adjoining 323) there specifically as a guide/warning for pushbacks in that troublesome spot? (i.e. not just a "no-parking" patch for ground vehicles.)
From someone who has done many hundreds of pushbacks at LHR (many years ago), here’s my take from a grainy photo. Looks like tug owned by Cobalt, ground handler contracted to Virgin. Looks to be a single cab tug with GPU at back end. If so, the tug has been repositioned to tow the 787 forwards, away from the damaged 350. A single cab would never reverse, it would push out forwards to the centre of the taxiway, brakes set on 787, then de-couple and turn around to tow forwards to the new stand or hangar. Certainly a bad day at the office for the driver and person responsible for checking wing clearance. I doubt it was a problem with the tow bar, as a shear pin break or tow head problem would be communicated to the brake rider on the flight deck to stop immediately.
The orientation of tug, tow bar and nose wheel completely wrong, tug drivers are not likely to make that mistake; my experience a shear pin or lock out pin failure when hydraulics applied; long gone are the days when we would disconnect torque links.
The damaged wing should have been in the drivers vision the whole time for this direction of push!
This type of tug,the low end for push and then switch cabs to the raised cab end for pull, the downward mirror is used for when connecting tow bar.
The damaged wing should have been in the drivers vision the whole time for this direction of push!
This type of tug,the low end for push and then switch cabs to the raised cab end for pull, the downward mirror is used for when connecting tow bar.
Yes could be the older Schopf F396 with a GPU next to the smaller cab.
I can't believe any Heathrow tug crew would attempt a push without vision of the tow bar, though that would likely be the outcome!
I can't believe any Heathrow tug crew would attempt a push without vision of the tow bar, though that would likely be the outcome!
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