The invention concerns a method for towing of an aircraft by means of a tractor which is attached to the aircraft, mainly to the nosewheel of the aircraft.
When towing an aircraft by means of a tractor under the known technology, a tractor driver usually carries out the towing which takes place at low speed, i.e. not over 10 miles/hour (16 km/h), alone. Such towing of aircraft takes place when empty aircraft are moved around in an airport and when loaded aircraft are towed away from a gate to a place where the engines of the aircraft can be started up. However, it would be desirable if fully loaded aircraft could be towed at higher speeds than that mentioned above. If that could be safely achieved, taxiing of aircraft could be done by tractor tow instead of under the power of the engines of the aircraft. This would result in a considerable fuel saving. However, two important problems prevent this from being achieved with the known technology.
First, such great forces between the aircraft and the tractor may develop during towing at higher speeds that the nose-wheel structure of the aircraft is unable to transmit them. Moreover, instability in the power transmission may easily cause directional instability with the danger of a jackknifing of the tow-train.
Second, leaving the full responsibility for a fully loaded aircraft being towed at high speed with a tractor driver is hardly acceptable.