Towing the Line
Aeroplanes are graceful machines in the air, but can be cumbersome brutes on the ground. Whereas the design is perfect for its intended operating environment thousands of feet above the earth, aeroplanes are understandably compromised when it comes to moving across the ground. They’re awkward, gangly and often heavy; they don’t have reverse gear and are regularly stored in tight places where all sort of solid things lurk ready to reshape surfaces into something less aerodynamic.
Enter the aeroplane tow. Aeroplane tows (also called tugs) are small powered machines that latch onto the aeroplane’s nose wheel and provide motive force to enable the owner to move the aircraft by themselves; winches and helping hands just became redundant.
If only it were that simple! Aeroplanes are not all the same, hangars are not all the same and neither is the ground you have to cover with the tow. Is it no small surprise then that there are plenty of different machines out there with different tractive forces, different latching systems, different sizes, designs and power systems.
Speedhawk’s Lars Larson, whose company markets the Powertow and Supertow tugs in Australia, has plenty of experience when it comes to deciding what tug is best for a specific aircraft owner.
“The type of aircraft the owner has, the hangaring conditions and what they want to do with the tow will determine the type of tow they need,” Larson told . “That can be sealed or unsealed aprons, slopes and grass surfaces.
