Aircraft guys - wanna see something cool

[Lowend]

One of our partner companies at work is a dealer for TowFlexx... I gotta say I'm impressed. Electric, remote control, zero turning radius, and can drag a loaded C130 a full mile
Little one


Big One


The Huge one

 

[mrfleet12]

That's impressive.

 

[Da-bigguy]

That is pretty darn cool!

 

[wnmech]

Definitely cool piece of aircraft handling equipment

 

[Lowend]

I'm kinda envisioning pairing these with combat drones. You could have a full automated deployment.
Which is both good and... scary

 

[muscl car]

That's a serious advancement in technology for military aircraft push back /
tug vehicles

When I was stationed at MCAS El Toro back in the early 80's all they used was Clarke tractors for smaller fighter aircraft such as F4 Phantoms or A4 Skyhawks . For the larger C130's they used modified 4x4 Dodge and Chevy pickups

 

[sandlapper]

Tugs

clark tug models - Google Search

 

[Zstar]

The C-135 is way heavier than a C-130.

 

[grzewnicki]

Then you got this. Flying an SH-2F Seasprite from San Diego to Fairbanks, Alaska for a museum, landed somewhere in the Yukon, shutdown and I walked into the office to get a fuel truck out to the helo. Turns out all they had was fuel pits, that cold weather puts a hurt on a battery and pilots did not want to start, move, shutdown, fuel and then try to start again. I came up with this option since there was no tow tractors at this airport. Really have no recollection, of why or how I came up with asking about rope and a pick up truck. XO of the squadron was stoked, said "I'll be the brake rider, make sure you get a pic!"

They are resourceful up in the Yukon, here I am using a "jump starting" rig one guy at a different airfield had and we needed it to get out of there!

 

[dcozzi]

I'll bet teh gearbox inside those units are really cool. If you figure an electric motor can spin at 20,000RPM and you use gear reduction to make it turn a wheel at 50RPM, you get a ton of pulling power.