Why no wingmen?

[1oztoffee1]

Having recently travelled through HKG, LHR, ORD,SFO, AUK, SYD and Toronto I was surprised to see wingmen in the US and Canada but not elsewhere. I can't recall them at CGD and Helsinki either on previous trips.
I can vaguely recall someone on a thread here mentioning wingmen some time ago and the need for them...I can understand why they are there but not why they are not there in many cases.
Are there any hard and fast rules or is it a peculiarity of US/Canada?

[Scott C]

The only flight our company handles at BHX, that requires wing walking, is United Airlines with their 757.

No other 757's at the airport require wing walkers ,nor do any of the other airlines we handle.

[spannersatcx]

it is apeculiarity of US/Canada.....

[Hotel Tango]

Needed more often in the USA because of their tight, and often awkward, gate seperation, chaotic heavy ramp clutter and ground traffic.

[bvcu]

used at LHR on T3 , dont know about elsewhere, think its an airport regulation.

[750XL]

Does mostly seem to be a US thing.

Where I work, if the aircraft is pushing back across an active road system someone has to stand in the road but no banksmen. Only exception being United...

[Lightning Mate]

There I was thinking you were referring to my number two and three.

[Mr Angry from Purley]

why you need a wingman
5N-HMB TC-JCI | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/superspotter/10475816776/in/photostream/)

[Krystal n chips]

On the lighter side, in 2007 I was working at Waddington and we watched, with bemused interest, as 5 Sqdn decided to take on of their pride and joys for a walk to 51 Sqdn....one man on the tail, one on each wingtip, one on a headset, one in the tractor and one who was I/c the tow, which, even for the Air Force, was a bit over the top manpower wise......all wore hard hats for the complete towing operation....presumably on the basis you never quite know what's going to fall out of the Lincolnshire skies.

[Allan Lupton]

I associate wing men with aeroplanes that tend to fall over at low speed like this one:
http://home.comcast.net/~guilfoyle72/6328.jpeg

Nowadays the tricycle undercarriage has made that group of skilled workers redundant.:)

[Musket90]

Where there is a road at the back of a parking stand there is normally a procedure for a "tail" man (or woman) to warn vehicles on the road so they stop during the aircraft pushback.
When there's no road at back of stand it's still useful to have a wingman, not just to check for wing clearance, but also to check the aircraft isn't pushing back into something else that may be behind - like another aircraft.

[Tu.114]

The other extreme is UKLL. Every pushback I have been subjected to required:

- one pushback truck driver;
- one assistant sitting beside him and disconnecting the tow bar after the push;
- two wingmen, one per wing;
- one walker on the headset;
- one marshaller in his car waiting on the taxilane to guide us to the runway.

It is all included in the fees and works rather well, so no questions asked.

[8314]

...especially when you're the only aircraft on the apron...:}