Upgrade of Aircraft Tow Tractors to A380 Airbus
Requirements
 A fully laden Boeing 747-400 weighs 408 tonnes while the
soon to be introduced super jumbo – the passenger
variant Air Bus A380 - tips the scales at 562 tonnes. Built
for flight, these modern passenger aircraft are very much
out of their element on the ground and require careful
handling.
 With the much larger and heavier A380 due for Australian
delivery in 2008, airlines, airports and service providers
have been examining the huge aircraft’s ground handling
requirements with runway and taxiway strengthening as a
priority. One area of scrutiny was the ability of
existing airfield tractors to move the A380 – whether
it be pushing it out from the airbridge or towing it to
other airfield locations for maintenance purposes.
 Chess Engineering recently undertook the task of upgrading
four Australian built aircraft tow tugs to cope with the
extra weight of the A380.
Needing extra mass and power, the tugs were fitted with
almost 8 tonnes of extra ballast and the 12 litre,V8 2
stroke turbo and supercharged diesel power plants were
upgraded to 500 horsepower.
These modifications dictated further upgrades to the cooling
system, suspension, axles, wheels and tyres. Various
other modifications and improvements were made to comply
with stringent airfield fire and safety regulations.
 The contract also called for the complete refurbishment of
each tractor. The result is an upgraded tractor fleet capable
of moving
the heaviest class of new and existing aircraft at a fraction of the cost of
purchasing new equipment.
|
