Followme car
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Prague
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Followme car
Hello everyone,
ANS CR is purchasing new followme cars for Prague airport LKPR. What we are thinking about is what should be displayed on the car beacon. Currently we have 2 options. FOLLOW ME and STOP. With the new cars we will have up to 16 options what we can show to the pilots. I thought I could ask you guys if you have any ideas, wishes or whatever you've seen at other airports cars.
Thank you for ideas
ANS CR is purchasing new followme cars for Prague airport LKPR. What we are thinking about is what should be displayed on the car beacon. Currently we have 2 options. FOLLOW ME and STOP. With the new cars we will have up to 16 options what we can show to the pilots. I thought I could ask you guys if you have any ideas, wishes or whatever you've seen at other airports cars.
Thank you for ideas
Join Date: Jun 2001
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Serious answer - callsign might be handy to avoid the odd misunderstanding.
Serious question - why does any airport need Follow-me vans any more?
Serious question - why does any airport need Follow-me vans any more?
Join Date: May 2001
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To many, some clueless safety bod decides its a tick for increased safety and ignores the fact that having a car in front of an aircraft when the braking action is poor is not a good idea. Some I suspect its a job creation scheme just as a revenue generator. Although sometimes its appreciated around work in progress or some weird stand that usually you won't go near with a chance of getting stuck.
You can have what ever you like on just make sure you can dim the bloody light at night and in rain. All it does is kill our vision so we can't see sod all apart from a splat of to bright light in front of us which we have to squint at and try and not to hit it. So bright in fact we can't actually read what's on it because it hurts.
You can have what ever you like on just make sure you can dim the bloody light at night and in rain. All it does is kill our vision so we can't see sod all apart from a splat of to bright light in front of us which we have to squint at and try and not to hit it. So bright in fact we can't actually read what's on it because it hurts.
So far, 8 responses of which only one is constructive and one other has a constructive point hidden in a rant.
Give the orginal poster a bit of credit for coming here and asking the question. Enough of the not-very-witty responses now, try some serious ones.
mad_jock's rant has a point hidden in it. Years ago it was shown that a large area of relatively low-intensity light is much better for visibility and safety than a high-intensity point source. I think it was TWA in the 1960s who first floodlit their aircrafts' tail fins, for advertising; then people realised that lighting your fin didn't just display your logo but showed the presence and direction of movement of the aircaft much better than a dazzling point-source strobe.
As regards the follow-me car, mad_jock's experience seems to say that the follow-me board should be as big as possible and less bright, rather than the small very bright signs that you sometimes see. And the same goes for the mandatory yellow rotating beacon too.
Give the orginal poster a bit of credit for coming here and asking the question. Enough of the not-very-witty responses now, try some serious ones.
mad_jock's rant has a point hidden in it. Years ago it was shown that a large area of relatively low-intensity light is much better for visibility and safety than a high-intensity point source. I think it was TWA in the 1960s who first floodlit their aircrafts' tail fins, for advertising; then people realised that lighting your fin didn't just display your logo but showed the presence and direction of movement of the aircaft much better than a dazzling point-source strobe.
As regards the follow-me car, mad_jock's experience seems to say that the follow-me board should be as big as possible and less bright, rather than the small very bright signs that you sometimes see. And the same goes for the mandatory yellow rotating beacon too.
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Follow Me used four times daily by a certain airline at LGW.
They seem to have a problem understanding where to go and when/where to stop..!
They seem to have a problem understanding where to go and when/where to stop..!
Join Date: May 2001
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I forget where it was could be Hel.
But I saw one follow me that had the back with a reflective arrow pointing up the way on the back of it and arrows pointing forwards down the sides.
That was cracking with the taxi light on. You could see when it had started turning. As the arrows on the side pointed which direction you should go.
It had one low level rotating orange on the top not something that an ambulance would be proud of.. The top panel actually said braking when it slowed down. Don't know if that was linked to the brakes or just a reduction in speed.
But it worked a treat.
Another cool feature seemed to be that the sign on the top had a variable angle. So the big boys they pointed it up a bit and for us tiddlier's they had it flat at 90 degrees.
But I saw one follow me that had the back with a reflective arrow pointing up the way on the back of it and arrows pointing forwards down the sides.
That was cracking with the taxi light on. You could see when it had started turning. As the arrows on the side pointed which direction you should go.
It had one low level rotating orange on the top not something that an ambulance would be proud of.. The top panel actually said braking when it slowed down. Don't know if that was linked to the brakes or just a reduction in speed.
But it worked a treat.
Another cool feature seemed to be that the sign on the top had a variable angle. So the big boys they pointed it up a bit and for us tiddlier's they had it flat at 90 degrees.
Sheva; you might get a better selection of responses if you post your question in the 'Ground Ops' or 'Questions' sections as vehicles operating on the apron are not an ATC responsibility.
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Sheva, how about 'set parking brake' , 'shut down', even 'wheels chocked' or even a really random one of 'weather radar off'. Last one, say you are meeting an aircraft that has no communications which the fire service needs to inspect, they may need a prompt to turn the wx radar off....
Or even 'less lights' for when we are dazzling you!
Or even 'less lights' for when we are dazzling you!
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Where I am we have 3 text options and 4 symbols.
FOLLOW ME
SLOW
STOP
<-- <-- <-- <-- (Which scrolls left)
--> --> --> --> (Which scrolls right)
<-- <-- --> --> (Which scrolls from the centre out)
■□ □■ to □■ ■□ (i.e. the outer lights flash, then the inner lights)
The bottom 4 are primarily for use if we have to direct traffic and I've certainly never used them on aircraft, just the top text ones. I use my vehicle indicators to show which way we'll be turning though we have reflective yellow strips down the side of the car so the flightcrew can probably see which way I'm turning without the indicators.
We normally only use them on aprons during dense fog (as the taxilane centreline is unlit) and for visiting pilots who either go the wrong way or declare that they are unfamiliar with the airport however we also had to use the follow me cars a couple of weeks ago when the airport had to go into Low Visibility Procedure but part of the main taxiway was closed.
FOLLOW ME
SLOW
STOP
<-- <-- <-- <-- (Which scrolls left)
--> --> --> --> (Which scrolls right)
<-- <-- --> --> (Which scrolls from the centre out)
■□ □■ to □■ ■□ (i.e. the outer lights flash, then the inner lights)
The bottom 4 are primarily for use if we have to direct traffic and I've certainly never used them on aircraft, just the top text ones. I use my vehicle indicators to show which way we'll be turning though we have reflective yellow strips down the side of the car so the flightcrew can probably see which way I'm turning without the indicators.
We normally only use them on aprons during dense fog (as the taxilane centreline is unlit) and for visiting pilots who either go the wrong way or declare that they are unfamiliar with the airport however we also had to use the follow me cars a couple of weeks ago when the airport had to go into Low Visibility Procedure but part of the main taxiway was closed.
