@ Koan...
 

"Here is the real story.
Years ago airlines would employ all kinds of workers on full benefits.
These people would stay for decades in their positions, such as ramp agents, and
mechanics, and thus they would gain decades of experience enjoying a decent middle-class standard of living. Things did happen but these kind of preventable delays due to ground damage were rare.

Now all these jobs are farmed out to subcontractors who pay peanuts, and have high turnover. This is the cost of outsourcing."

I could not agreed more!

Absolutely right. Experience and common sense made the work environment much safer. If the old farts were still on active duties, only a fraction of security staff were needed. Logical thinking was part of many training courses we attended. We could " smell " trouble. Then came the laptop generation...

Pity some of the costly surveillance passengers are subjected to a mere 100 meters away, can't be applied to ensuring the security of half a billon dollars of the finest heavy metal…

Delam, I think one practical if not technical definition of a crash is as a sound, and I'm guessing this one made a decent crash sound. :E

.........and they classified the BA B744 taxi prang at Jo'burg an " incident "!!!
When someone pointed that out THAT IT WAS TECHNICALLY AN ACCIDENT, his/her post was removed pronto, before you could finish saying " utter codswallop "!:ugh:

I suppose they could put a couple of patches on the 400 and pop it up to the dump at victorville which is where its heading soon anyway , if you believe the QF cuts coming!

You'll never guess who the lecturers were during my apprenticeship??? Old farts!! Their illogical thinking training methods were a bit hard to get used to alright, but thankfully we didn't have the "Smell Test" to contend with so we all got through with flying colours. :ok:

Laptop generation?? Get with the times man, it's smartphones and tablets now. No one uses laptops anymore. :}

Reality is BEA a lot of the old farts you speak of are struggling to keep up with the times. In the good old days you had a lot more time and people, and a lot less complicated. I'd happily trade in my gadgets for the cushy lifestyle you guys had. :ok:

As for this accident, I thought we waited for reports on PPrune. Or, is that only for pilots?

Oh I did not realize that when using a towbarless tractor there is no requirement for someone to be in a pilots seat having the use of the aircraft brakes. Or is this just more uneducated information like before?

Yes, spelling is not my strong point. Did you think I meant when the tow bar took a break or it broke? Sorry if that confused you, you must have a very low IQ if it did. I meant if the tow bar does not continue to hold the aircraft. Not that I think it holds up the aircraft as I guess that may be confusing to you also given your previous comment. Think you better speak to an adult and they can explain it to you pictorially or if they have the time with the use of models.

Normally I would totally agree with this. However at LAX QANTAS had hired their own towing crew directly employed by them just to move airplanes. They also bought a multimillion fleet of Douglas tractors to do the job so really they spared no expense. Menzies still does their baggage/cargo loading. This was done years ago after Swissport got into the nasty habit of banging their planes into other planes and poles.

Quote:
Says the man who never heard of towbarless tractors.
Oh I did not realize that when using a towbarless tractor there is no requirement for someone to be in a pilots seat having the use of the aircraft brakes. Or is this just more uneducated information like before?

Quote:
Or the man who doesn't know his brakes from his breaks.
Yes, spelling is not my strong point. Did you think I meant when the tow bar took a break or it broke? Sorry if that confused you, you must have a very low IQ if it did. I meant if the tow bar does not continue to hold the aircraft. Not that I think it holds up the aircraft as I guess that may be confusing to you also given your previous comment. Think you better speak to an adult and they can explain it to you pictorially or if they have the time with the use of models.


SloppySeconds making friends again:=

Go Pros
 

At the rate that pilots are putting GoPro cameras on their Cessnas and other aircraft with speed tape or Duct tape, it wouldn't be very expensive to rig a camera on each wing tip for just ground handling, or to make a permanent installation of a GoPro or similar type of camera on each wing tip. A tablet type monitor could provide the video feed to the tug operator and mechanic in the cockpit. No wiring is required. Everything needed is an off the shelf item.

Of course the delay caused by getting the correct stamps of approval from various committees and inspectors will make implementation impossible for several years in addition to making the final cost of installation prohibitively expensive.