Airbridge Docking.

[kazzie]

For those of you out there who have the job of attaching Airbridge's to Aircraft.

Which aircraft, In your experience, do you find the easiest and hardest? Obviously every Bridge is different in prospect of positioning on the Stand.

Easiest..
757-200 (doorL2) but can be tricky sometimes.. Engine number 1 can be very cloose!
737-700/800
A310,19,20,21,30

Hardest:
737-300 (pitot Tubes)
767-300 (Engine 1 close)
747-400 (Engine 2, esp When retracting)

Discuss!

[750XL]

Guess it all depends on the airport and whether your using a nose loader, single or double bridge.

Easiest

757 L2 Door - Just got to make sure your not massively out or you'll hit the engine
A320/21 L1 Door - One of the easiest ones to do in my opinion, nothing spikey to hit.
737-800 L1 Door - Simples

Hardest

737-300/400/500 - Pitots! On the -300 we have 2-3 inches to play with when putting the bridge on, and I'm sure all those bridge drivers know that bridges tend to like moving in feet rather than in inches :8
777-200 L2 Door - You have to drive 'around' the engine to get it on L2. -300s are easier.
A330 - Not the hardest but your quite close to #1 engine when putting the bridge on L2 door, even harder if your using a double bridge :ok:

All aircraft are hard on the nose loaders if the captain doesn't stop where he should :E

[Blue-Shamrock 89]

A380's can be tricky at first on the upper deck but once you have done it a few times it becomes 2nd nature

[polarbearjim]

I agree that the 737-300 is a difficult one. If you go a few inches too far forward you crush the air data probes. If you go a few inches too far aft you're not going to get the door open! You have to know the dimensions of your bridge well.

The A310 has quite a big door so if the airbridge only has a small opening at the end it requires some accuracy.

On the 757 the engine can be close but as long as you don't go any further right than the L2 door you won't hit the engine.

The 747 is probably the hardest I've bridged and this probably because at my airport it is not possible to give the number 2 engine a wide berth as you reach the swing left limit before you get too far away from the wing. This means you have to navigate the bridge very closely around the engine. I used to have a good look at the bridge from the outside to make sure there is nothing hanging off the bottom from the lip to a good few meters back and get reaquainted with the dimensions. This way I could raise the bridge up high and move forward until I am almost over the engine and only then could I be sure I have enough swing left avaliability to continue. It's really helpful when the airline keeps their aircraft nice and clean as the reflection from a polished nacelle can give you a great view of what you are doing! I had a bridge missbehave itself once when retracting from a 747 so I just stopped and let the pushback team take the aircraft off the stand before I continued.

[British Grenadier]

Depends on the stand , at LHR T3 , 313 is a real pain as BAA keep moving the stop marks for different types of A/C , and is a departures only gate , but if you keep aiming for 6 inches off the right hand edge of No 2 door left ( 747 ) you should be ok , as for the 380 stands in T3 , major cock up by BAA , as they are TRYING to add a third jetty but have obviuosly got their calculations right , bang there goes another one !!!! :ugh:

[clearasmud154]

Tut tut Kazzie... 763s?! I shall have to inform the pier co-ordinators to keep an eye on you!!! :}

Never had a problem with 733/4/5s myself - as long as the left hand edge of the canopy is on the panel join just aft of the pitot tubes you'll be bang on :ok:

Fokker 70s are a pain in the backside, as are 744s. Never really liked doing MD8xs either but you get used to em all.

For real s**ts and giggles, try bridging a Tu-154... now THAT is entertaining!!!


As for the easiest... 736/7/8/9 and A318/9/20/21, easy peasy :ok:

(used to do between 5 and 7 763s a week until recently... :()

[Subject 117]

One from the past, the 1-11 was the worst I have done, horrible!

[kazzie]

I was Docking a 763 on 28 and crapping myself haha! Its a big engine! and Im a woman.Do the Maths haha!

[750XL]

There's a nose loader at MAN which tends to jump a foot forwards as soon as you touch or let go of the control stick :bored:

Can turn them final few inches before contact very interesting :ooh:

[GRIZZLER]

I dont think that an airbridge has ever been put on a TU154 at STN, as the nose of the aircraft can move up or down a foot and a half during off load and onload...we always use steps on the door nearest the wing ...then we keep an eye on the gap.....even then its iffy...the first step can be a big one.

[clearasmud154]

My point exactly... it's nigh on bloody impossible! At Glasgow we always used driveable steps which were adjusted two or three times during the spin. "Apparantly" it *is* possible... but not recommended!

[kazzie]

Stand 28 at GLA can be a bitch though, you have to move forward right towards the engine then deviate to the left to avoid the engine and come in to the right at the last moment to get the ****er on with no damage..

And dont get me started on 32...

[james solomon]

why whats wrong with 32 at GLA

[TheGlide]

Thanks i have finally found people who drive airbridges please always make surre its properly set with the airplane most people dont realise the dangers of an airbridge that are not properly set.Eg a child apparently died having fallen down the gap of an airbridge in Malaga and broken his neck last month.
I recently landed in Madrid after leaving the cocpikt i saw an airbridge not correctly connected and sounding an alarm giving a sudden jolt now and again.I approached the dispatcher and told him how dangereous this was he shrugged his shoulders and said its always like that.
So frustrating....Sorry for the rant but i cant stand this attitude.

[polarbearjim]

I think what Kazzie means when she is talking about the stand 32 airbridge is it's tendancy to roll backwards. It's very annoying when you put it on an aircraft and let go of the controls because it will roll back about a foot leaving an unacceptable gap between the platform and the aircraft. What you have to do is come on almost parallel to the aircraft, that way when it rolls back it doesn't roll away from the aircraft just parallel to the skin.

That is terrible if a gap was left big enough for someone to fall down, even a kid. The jerking you experienced might well have been the autolevel tracking the aircraft as it is loaded. That is quite normal and is what stops the bridge taking your door off!

[Sir Herbert Gussett]

Interesting to see so many GLA ground agents on these forums. Maybe next time I'm at work I'll start introducing myself as Captain Gussett to the handlers and see what happens. :}

[kazzie]

We could have a clan, and whisper "shhh, Its a secret" in A Stonecutters (Simpsons) Fasion!m:suspect::E

[polarbearjim]

Dash-8 eh? That could be one of two airlines and the chances are you don't work for Air Southwest!

[Sir Herbert Gussett]

Oh no - Houston is too nice a village to live in to bother with the South West. :)

[Cumulogranite]

Easiest in the world......E195. Miles away from any pointy bits and aim for the first window you are also miles away from the engine. Thanks Embaer!!

[popstar]

Houston is too nice a village to live in to bother with the South West. see you in the Fox and Hounds sometime.