do planes ever use reverse thrusters to back away from the gate anymore?
Aug 31, 2006 | 9:14 am
#31
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Originally Posted by magiciansampras
I know they used to do this in the past, but I'm pretty sure I've always had a taxi push us out. Do air carriers ever use reverse thrust to back up anymore?
Aug 31, 2006 | 10:00 am
#32
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A former Eastern Airlines pilot used to work in our group, and I asked him about power-backs. He said that at EAL, one of the labor contracts specified that the wingwalkers all had to be mechanics, and that meant you needed 2-3 mechanics available every time you had to push back a plane using the tug. To avoid the labor costs of having to have a large number of mechanics at every airport, they adopted the power-back procedure, which did not require having mechanics as wingwalkers. In EAL's analysis, the labor cost savings exceeded the fuel costs as well as the potential FOD risks.
Aug 31, 2006 | 10:14 am
#33
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Originally Posted by TRAVELSIG
Bae146s can back up using reverse thrust. I was on a SWISS flight that did this two weeks ago.
I would guess a tug was pushing you back at the same time as the engines were being started and that was the engine noise you were hearing.
Aug 31, 2006 | 10:48 am
#34
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Originally Posted by WHBM
Sorry Travelsig but BAe146s are not even fitted with reverse thrust at all, never have been. They do have relatively large wheels compared to equivalent types because they are fitted with notably large brakes for pulling up on the short runways they use.
I would guess a tug was pushing you back at the same time as the engines were being started and that was the engine noise you were hearing.
I would guess a tug was pushing you back at the same time as the engines were being started and that was the engine noise you were hearing.
Aug 31, 2006 | 4:15 pm
#35
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Originally Posted by SJCFlyerLG
This was done during Skylink construction. I don't know what the correlation was, but once Skylink was finished, it was back to the tugs.
They were doing it long before they started to build the Skylink. Really, as long as I can remember flying out of DFW on MD-80s (which is a pretty long time). Also, I'm pretty sure it stopped well before the Skylink opened up.
Aug 31, 2006 | 4:27 pm
#36
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Originally Posted by WHBM
If you take Scot Airways (Dornier 328 turboprop) from Edinburgh to London City they will usually reverse back from the terminal at Edinburgh under their own power. It's so unusual to then change instantly from reverse to taxying forward.