Jetstar A330 Tow Incident at Melb

[Brian Noldt]

I saw this on another forum

I have Googled the incident, and the only reference to the incident is on that forum.
Apparently during a tow, the tow-bar-less tug lost control, and jack knifed.
There is a picture on that forum.
It says in one posting that the nose gear assembly will need replacing and maybe the mains as well.
It looks like VH-EBD is the aircraft.

Brian

[JamesL]

The aircraft is EBD, there was a towing incident where a driver was driving to fast and missed a corner, thus resulting in a steep turn which resulted into a 180 spin under the aircraft.

The Nose wheel assy is being replaced at a cost of $1.5mil~, its currently sitting in the old JHAS hanger.

[Paul F]

Haven't seen anything posted on here but I believe there was a incident during the week with a Tiger A320 and a tug at MEL, I have seen a photo with what looks like a damaged nose wheel .

[JamesL]

Aircraft was VNB

[Stuart Trevena]

Hi All,

Was that Wednesday night?

I ask, as I was at the Ops Rd Car Park, and between 9.30 and 10.30pm I saw 2 aircraft under tow.

The first, (Tiger I think, Tail light not on) was rocketing along the Taxiway Alpha, I think down to the JH area, and the second was a Jetstar A320, doing the correct speed - slow.

Unfortunately didn't get Tug details on radio, as I was on Tower, and not SMC / Ground.

Stuart

[JamesL]

Hi Stuart, was a pushback incident, not on TWY A

[Nigel C]

Originally Posted by Stuart Trevena

The first, (Tiger I think, Tail light not on) was rocketing along the Taxiway Alpha, I think down to the JH area, and the second was a Jetstar A320, doing the correct speed - slow.

Ok....
1. Are you a speed expert?
2. Do you know whether the alleged Tiger (which you can't actually be sure of because the tail light wasn't on....) was exceeding company (or possibly manufaturers) limits on tow speed? And if so, was it because:
a) you really are a speed expert as per question 1?
b) you had a speed gun and were able to determine 'rocket' speed from outside the airport boundary
c) you have intimate knowledge of both Tigers (again, you make an assumption that Tiger had no tail lights on) and Airbus' maximum tow speeds and can make that claim as per both a) and b)?
3. Define 'slow'
4. Explain why 'slow' is the 'correct speed'
5. Does it state in Jetstar's training manuals that towing must be done 'slow'?
6. Just why did you assume it was Tiger? Was it because Jetstar would never 'rocket' around the taxiways and that this is a practice best left for ultra-low cost carriers?
7. Are Tiger the only airline to tow around airports under the cover of "logo light darkness" to conceal their rocket tow speeds from speed experts in public areas?


Have I missed something?

[Geoff Br]

Seems when you read another forum posts, from obviously air side workers, speed would seem to be an issue of contention, maybe though a lack of training and or supervision. I liked the post where they thought tug driver swerved to avoid a rabbit....
http://www.pprune.org/archive/index.php/t-543060.html

[Stuart Trevena]

Hi Nigel,

I only asked some questions from an observation, on Wednesday night, that I thought were relevant to a previous statement?

It is people like you, who put people off asking questions on not just this forum, but others as well!!

This forum is here so like minded people can ask questions or post statements, without the fear of members like you being a bully in your responses.

A simple Response of "No it isn't" would have done.

Stuart

[Nigel C]

Stuart,

Nice to chat to you too.

The only question asked was whether it was Wednesday night. After that you made a rather damning statement based on your own perception of what you saw. Now, with me not knowing you, your background, Melbourne ops, Melbourne's layout, ATC instructions, tugs used, tug capabilities in Melbourne, companies involved in towing/engineering etc, I asked a series of questions to help me determine whether your statement held any weight of credibility, or whether you were being sensationalist.


For me, I don't drive tugs, I don't know what speed limitiations are imposed on towing ops by either the airline, the tug operator, the tug manufacturer. I don't know what the ATC instruction was i.e. was one of the operators told to expidite by ATC? Was the other instructed to make it a slow tow to allow for other traffic in the area? I simply don't know.
But perhaps you do know, hence my line of questioning.

It is people like you, who put people off asking questions on not just this forum, but others as well!!
This forum is here so like minded people can ask questions or post statements, without the fear of members like you being a bully in your responses.

If you, or anyone else makes a sensational claim or statement, then why can't people (including me) challenge what's been said? If you have proof to back up your claim, then let's hear it!
We are often so critical of how the media reports incidents involving aviation, but it's little wonder if they go trawling public forums to see what info they can dig out and the next thing you know there's 'eyewitness accounts of an aircraft being towed recklessly at rocket speeds....' being splashed around.


Finally, I couldn't answer with a simple "No it isn't" because I don't know. I wasn't there, and in fact I haven't been to Melbourne for the past 2 years.