Can an A340 'power back'?
 

If really no suitable tug is around, would an A340 be able to push back on reversers, and more generally, which a/c is "better" as self-propelling herself backward ?

I do not believe any A340 operator powersback. I'm not sure if the A340 has 4 reversers- if only 2, although physically it could, it would take very high power. This would cause big problems. Apart from turboprops which can happily powerback, the only jets that can comfortably do so are DC9-type formats with raised power units that would not suffer such ingestion problems. The problem with the lower power units that most jets have is re-ingesting gases and debris that are blown forward by the reverse air.

One would have thought that a power back situation would be a slight problem as the airplane hardly has enough thrust to move forward, let alone in 'reverse'....:{

Now that's a sense of humour, 411A. :)

All jets with reversers will powerback, but not all are protected against FOD, recall the Airflorida incident when the EPR probe was blocked with slush after unauthorized use of reversers to help the tugs, pilots reduced power on TO because of overreading guages and entered a stall, winding them up in the Potomac... please leave that trick to the DC-9s MD 80/90 and the lockheed C-5!


Don't forget possible damage to the wing LE,engines Blocked PS sources, damage to equipment or other aircraft on the ramp, and endangering the lives of ground crew.