© IAI
Posted on 02/06/2011 9:52:26 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
New IAI "taxibot" to save airlines billions
The taxibot tows planes from the passenger gate to the runway, so the planes needn't run their engines.
3 February 11 20:27, The Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI) (TASE: ARSP.B1) passenger jet towing vehicle, capable of handling even the largest planes in service, has successful completed a series of trials.
The "taxibot" tows planes from passenger gate to the runway, rendering it unnecessary for the planes to operate their jet engines. IAI estimates the cost of the taxibot at $3 million, and the company expects to sell 1,500 taxibots to airlines by 2020.
At many airports, the passenger gates are several miles from the runways, and the drive to the runway consumes huge quantities of jet fuel. For example, a Boeing 747 consumes a ton of jet fuel every 17 minutes.
"The good news about the taxibot is that a plane's crew does not have to use the engines to taxi from the passenger gate to the end of the runway," IAI taxibot project manager Ron Brayer told "Globes". "This is no small thing nowadays. Airlines will save billions of dollars on fuel. Plane safety will improve, because when the engines are off, the risk of sucking in items on the ground is reduced. In addition, noise at airports will lessen, and there will be fewer pollution emissions. In effect, the plane's crew will only have to operate the immense jet engines for less than five minutes before takeoff."
IAI says that the taxibot can tow the largest passenger jets now in service, including the Airbus 380 Superjumbo. Tests in recent months at airports in France and Germany proved that the taxibot can also tow the Boeing 747.
IAI VP business development Yehoshua Eldar said that the world's airlines spend $7-8 billion a year just on taxiing from the passenger gates to the runway. "This does not even include the spending of additional hundreds of thousands of dollars on repairing breakdowns caused by accumulated engine damage from the sucking of items into the engines," he said. He predicts that taxibot sales will begin in 2012.
© IAI
Could work. Takes the control of the plane out of the pilots hands. Not sure how pilots like that idea.
This has already been thought of and in fact the so called super tug was designed with this in mind. I get pushed back by super tugs all the time. They actually lift the aircraft nosewheel off the ground so they would be fine for towing the aircraft as far as the runway but the issue is having enough of them on hand to do the job. Using them just for pushback means they can move on to another aircraft in short order but if they are tethered to an aircraft long enough to tow it to the runway you would need many multiples of what is now available. I suspect airport authorities wouldn’t be too happy having to buy fleets of these things.
One small problem. No engines = no power which means no a/c, instrumentation, etc. Better to say it saves on labor costs and some fuel.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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Wouldn’t they use APUs or maybe turn one engine at idle? (rather than 2, 3, or 4) pushing...
You may be right about the AC though. I *think* APUs only provide power/hydraulics for instrumentation and controls. Climate control may have to wait for the main engines.
Seems it would cause a long time to run up the engines at a busy airport.
let the airlines ahare the cost with the airport if these things really save a lot of money.
late ‘44 and onward the luftwaffe towed planes to the runway with small vehicels and animals to save fuel and to extend the time between engine replacements (70 hours) on ME-262 jets.
One acronym. APU
A couple years ago American started a fuel saving initiative, where dispatchers loaded less fuel so they weren't ferrying fuel. Pilots taxied on one engine, called ahead to gates to have AC and electrical power ready. They save $97 million in one quarter. The next day the company distributed $97 million in bonuses to executives.
During the demonstration, following TaxiBot™ push-back, all taxiing processes were controlled by the aircraft’s pilots from the cockpit, using the normal tiller and braking pedals just as in regular airplane taxiing. The TaxiBot’s™ special control system controlled the load on the aircraft’s Nose Landing Gear (NLG) in real time, maintaining it within a pre-calculated envelope, such that there is an insignificant fatigue effect on the NLG. Despite the severe weather conditions which prevailed during the Frankfurt test, the demonstrator system showed excellent capabilities and successfully maintained the defined envelope.
APU’s nowadays provide air as well as electrics. No hydraulic power though. There are electrically operated hydraulic pumps that do provide hydraulic power though and since the APU would provide the electricity to run them they would depend on APU power until the engines are running. Of course, if the APU craps out!
Hmm, I’m wondering if these tugs would provide electric power through an umbilical. I didn’t go to the link and read the article but it’s possible!
Couldn't that time be reduced if the engines were started as the plane approaches the runway?
Hmm, how many airports would they have to share the costs with? If the handling companies charge a fee for a long tow (they charge a fee for a pushback now) the airlines would have to see if it’s costlier to burn the fuel or pay the fee. Unless the tow to the runway is mandated of course. I can definitely see that happening. It would be right up the Greens alley and the airlines would get to brag about not burning so much fuel (miniscule in the overall scheme) and they would just jack up ticket prices a little more to cover it.
The joke’s on me then. I just assumed it had a driver.
The article also mentions FOD while on the ground. How common is it to have too pull an airplane out of service for FOD?
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