Do Air Cargo companies take a flyaway towbar
 

Do Air Cargo companies take a flyaway towbar w/ them all the time or just as needed ? ( Abus, 737's etc... ) Thanks

The AN225 has it's own tow bar. That's why after it's pushed back you could go do you're weekly shopping and come back and it will still not have departed.
Impressive machine!

From experience, it's mostly only the unusual types that carry their own tow bar, Antonovs, Ilyushins, military stuff etc.

Don't EK A380s carry a towbar in the boot too?

Do Air Cargo companies take a flyaway towbar
 

Yes they do, but from memory, they have no wheels on them so a bit of a be-atch to get from the taxiway back into the hold. But 737s and the run of the mil still don't usually , unless they are going somewhere remote and obscure that is

on our little TP we take a tow head in the boot on charters and places we don't normally operate into. Everywhere seems to have the bar that it fits to even if they have to take another head off to use it.

Yes, no, depends...

if you're flying to an airport where you don't normally fly, it would be prudent to make sure that your handler at dest has a towbar which will fit your particular a/c type.

If you have a weird a/c type then ditto.


1. while you may be able to park at a power-in , power out position... some bigger airports don't have this 'planned' so you end up using two remote bays.

2. Some aircraft are different from others. Airbus A310 come to mind.. some have small spindles and some have fat ones, depending on original customer.

3. Russians usually carry one on board. I've seen an AN124 take 40 mins to push out...first the aircraft is pushed out onto the taxiway using the double headed towbar. It is then disconnected and pulled aside (still near the aircraft). The aircraft does the whole nose opening, ramp-lowering, kneeling thing... which takes all of 15 minutes.. the towbar is wheeled aboard the Antonov by the Russkies (a bunch of them are always onboard) and the kneeling, ramp and nose events are reversed. Parking these things sideways on a normal parking spot is not possible due to wingspan.


Anil

Tow Bar,
 

Yes, sometimes tow bars are carried,
We did a run of flights on a 747 and carried our own bar,
The company were far more concerned about whether we had remembered to pack the tow bar in the hold, than they were about being on time or the freight!
:ugh:

In some places of world being on time means within the same week :)

On topic: Really depends on the type. 737 is so common that all airports (even most military places) than can accomodate 737 in terms of runway and taxiway length/width and apron strength, tend to have a towbar for 737 as well. At the smaller airports, there are no nose-in parking stands, so no need for a towbar anyway.

Some years back I was involved in a 747 cargo operation,during a fuel stop in Tripoli we were informed that there was no 747 pushbar available after being marshaled onto a stand. The result being that we had to wait 2 hours for a Libyan Arab 727 to depart before we could move - even then it was a little tight.

talking about towbars..

In the old KUL airport in Subang, 747s would be parked right up against the terminal...this was the only way they could squeeze a big jet in the space available.

Trouble was if the pilot missed the stop-bar and overshot by a feet or two the tug would only be able to squeeze into the space available with great difficulty...

Did you know that a 747 has tow points behind the nose wheel as well ? and the standard towbar will fit? Had to use this method once when the pilot missed by more than a few feet.. (lights were kaput).

Anil

Anilv

In answer to your post most of the 124 operators load the towbar into the rear of the aircraft using the internal crane its much quicker :)

Apologise for the drift...!

yeah.. the one I saw had those weird 124 pallets and it was probably full to the rear..

For those who have not seen them..The soviets developed a pallet system which probably weighs close to a metric ton each. These have 4 removable wheel and a removable pullbar. It is pulled to the rear of the aircraft and the crane is connected to the four corners. The whole pallet is lifted a bit and the wheels and bar are removed by pulling out a retaining pin. The pallet is then moved into the belly of the beast using the cranes. After the hold has been loaded, you are left with a fair mountain of wheels which is then brought to the forward and loaded just behind the ramp.

This is true to form for the Soviets as all their aircraft are designed to require minimal ground support equipment. In this case you only need a tractor of some sort, even an agricultural one would work, and you could turn the aircraft around. Hell , if you didnt have a tractor the 124 had enough bods on board to push/pull the the dolly/pallet combo into position.!

This was in SIN, circa 92-94.

Anil

No thread drift there Anilv

Good to see how they did it in the old days :)

Do Air Cargo companies take a flyaway towbar
 

Anilv, the rear tow bar connection is for hangar towing

thanks...

but it worked in the case I mentioned.!

Anil

Original 747 operators commonly towed the craft off the gate from behind, personal observation that many classic 747's had the comm jack on the back side of the gear. TOWTEAMBASE you are correct, usually the only reason to use the aft tow point is to fit the aircraft into a tight hanger spot but I assure you it was not always it's main purpose.