Originally Posted by
FullFare
Well, in bloc0102's mine, he thought it was. In the spirit of Flyertalk, and helping other flyers, I'd let it go.
I, too, have probably flown into JFK's gates at least 100+ times and would add that lot of things have happened, particularly at terminal 7, where I've been towed in on multiple times. Recently, I've been towed in twice on SJC-JFK run's (flown by AS) into terminal 7. The FA's told me it was because they needed something to prop up the tail end of the plane. If that were true, the explanation was new to me. Someone else might know more and educate me (and hopefully others).
The tail prop is for 739s. However it has nothing to do with towing. The plane has a CG slightly aft. If cargo hold unloaded or loaded slightly wrong the tail can tip and hit ground. Thus they place a metal support under the tail.
Towing is done for tight areas. LAX T5/6 had a couple of these I remember when DL was there.