a TUGing question

[PAXboy]

Watching a tug hauling a 767 at LTN the other day, as my bus passed by, I realised that the driver was facing the a/c.

I presume that the driver is facing the a/c to keep a better eye on his charge? Is it easier to keep to the center line because you are going so slowly? And the line is 'unrolling' right in front of you?

Thanks.

[Piltdown Man]

And it also depends where you are. In AMS they have "Goldhofer" tugs (amongst others) which have revolving seats. These chaps generally face the direction of travel and do it as a one man (or woman) operation. And, given they choice, I prefer that. No pratting about with weird and wonderful hand signals, just a well trained person who gets on and does the job, safely.

[ABO944]

Some tugs can move the cab up and down, so the driver can see behind when reversing (pulling) the aircraft along.

[faultygoods]

tugs

with older tugs that dont have fancy seating etc. its down to the experience of the driver.
ie when reversing an a/c and a tug there are 2 swival points which once mastered makes pushing back and then pulling fwd easy. but.... its hard to master. the less experienced drivers will always face the A/C, ie a/c nose to tug nose.

[PAXboy]

It was an old style tug. I have seen the lifting-cabs and the revolving-cabs and the grab-the-nose-wheel sort as well. I did look out for 'wingwalkers' but could not see any but that might just have been the view I had from the moving bus. Thanks for feed back.

Funny little tanks, eh? The CIA are everywhere I tell you...