Why Aircraft Couldn’t Fly Without Ground Support Equipment

When we board a plane for our holidays or have to fly for a business trip, we tend to take a lot for granted about the aircraft that we fly on and we don't really think about the fact that such aircraft actually take a lot of looking after. Just to get them ready to take to the skies and keeping them well maintained requires an awful lot of work by many people and the ground crews who perform this vital role have to depend upon certain specialist ground support equipment, without which the aircraft would not be able to fly.

Moving Aircraft – Aircraft Tugs

First, let's take a look at how aircraft are moved while on the ground at an airport. Even the simple act of pushing back an aircraft out of its parking slot requires a lot of precision, control, and power. That is done with an aircraft tug (more info).

There are aircraft tugs of all shapes and sizes. Small, hand-operated tugs can be used to help move aircraft as big as around 5 tonnes; electrically powered tugs can handle slightly bigger planes, and gas-powered all-wheel drive tugs a lot larger ones—like the passenger planes that you are most likely to ride on when flying off on holiday.

The Powering Aircraft – Ground Power Units & Start Units

Taxing the aircraft around on the ground is one thing, but to start the engines it takes the correct voltage by a power start unit to fire most of the aircraft. Specific needs of this power vary for each aircraft type. Some smaller aircraft types only require 12V power, but many other aircraft require 24V or even a 28V supply of power. In addition to powering the aircraft, some ground power units—also referred to as GPUs—can provide a continuous flow of power to the aircraft while it's on the ground as well. Those continuous power supplies enable the vehicle systems to be running on ground power. It goes on to imply, of course, that there is other, various, special ground power equipment as frequency converters also, which further exacerbates the issues that safely power up an aircraft when it's merely parked at any airport into quite a handful business.

The Aircraft's Inspection Tools

Of course, other than moving the aircraft and getting it running, there is the whole variety of functions associated with actually maintaining it so that the aircraft stays airworthy. One of the most important tasks is to ensure that the aircraft is in top mechanical condition and safe to fly. This testing and maintenance involve the use of special tools used in the testing, measuring, and maintaining of the various systems of the aircraft. Much of the meters and inspection tools are involved to ensure all values correspond with the readings required by the aircraft manufacturer.

The most critical tasks that maintenance technicians undertake include aircraft test procedures, and no shortcuts are taken in conducting the work. Every part of an airplane, from the airframe to the electrical and computer systems, fuel systems, landing gear, and communication equipment, is inspected and tested regularly after the accumulation of a number of hours in flight. Any flaw found during the inspection is addressed on the spot without regard for how minor the defect may be.

Depending on the nature of the maintenance that the aircraft needs and the level of stress that the plane is likely to have experienced, there are various tiers to the inspection processes. In a general sense, Level 1 inspections are conducted after every flight. As the aircraft logs more time in the air, the level and detail of the inspections increase in their depth.

Thorough, in-depth inspections will be conducted at pre-determined intervals or after a certain number of flying hours, with experts recommending that they be done at least every six months, depending upon the amount of time the aircraft has spent in the air during that period.