In 1972 on January 4th, all of London was fogged out and Manchester got 104 diversions. Normal traffic was about 15 aircraft on the ground at any one time, so it was a bit cramped on the apron and in the terminal.
There was a DC8 on the South side, which used it’s reverse thrusters to back out of a dead-end parking spot. I thought I was seeing things, and never mentioned it…until very recently on another forum, another person remembers it too.
Was this a common practice? Is it still?
By: Dazza - 30th January 2009 at 00:34
Saw a Mad-Dog do it on the central apron at EMA three or four years back, it was I believe SX-BSW with ‘UK Jet’ titles and what a bloody shower they were, I think that summer we counted at least 27 other operators who covered their flights because the damn thing was always going tech! Made for good spotting though…
-Daz
By: Richard Taylor - 29th January 2009 at 21:58
If yer name’s Eastern Airways & you operate J41s, then you can do it too!:)
By: Skymonster - 29th January 2009 at 20:33
Yes, more prevalent these days with turboprops than with jets as the risk of FOD ingestion is less.
A
By: RingwaySam - 29th January 2009 at 10:28
Believe Binter Canaries still do it quite abit with there ATRs.
By: Skymonster - 29th January 2009 at 10:25
Not totally knocked on the head, but generally not used much anymore due:
1. Manoeuvre requires quite high power to start movement, and there is a risk of ingestion of debris and other foreign objects due to exhuast being directed forwards and then re-introduced to the engine
2. There is a serious prospect of the aeroplane sitting back on its tail if it has to be stopped suddenly whilst moving in reverse under power. Procedure always used to be that both flight deck crew’s feet had be be planted firmly on the floor (not on the brakes) and checked, and aircraft had to be stopped by cancelling reverse thrust and if necessary selecting idle forward thrust, and never stopped by braking. As using forward thrust to stop rearwards movement is not instantaneous, this means stopping rapidly in an emergency is not easy
3. Flight deck rearwards visibility severely compromised (impossible), so still needs the ground crew to supervise the powerback and this the only real saving being the tug and tow bar – which was one reason it was occasionally used (when an aircraft was parked nose-in at an airport where there was no tow bar)
Andy
By: steve rowell - 29th January 2009 at 02:27
I think they’ve knocked it on the head after the crash of Air Florida Palm 90 !!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Florida_Flight_90
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January 29, 2009 at 1:13 am