AERO Specialties is Committed to Ground Crew and GSE Safety

1. AERO Specialties is Committed to Ground Crew and GSE Safety There’s no question that airside ground crews and their supervisors, and everyone working in aviation support positions, are under a terrific amount of practical and economic pressure. Not only is the money, luggage, time, convenience, and therefore, very often, the goodwill of passengers on the line—but the airlines are also under enormous financial pressure to keep their crafts maintained, prepared, moving, and on schedule. However, there is something far more precious and important to consider: safety. Not just the safety of the passengers and crews of the aircraft, but the safety of aircraft itself, the ground crews, and the ground support equipment (GSE). To that end, AERO Specialties offers a full suite of safety equipment to protect those keeping us in the air. Whatever GSE you need, from an aircraft ground power unit to an aircraft tug, you can count on AERO Specialties to have a high-quality selection of products to choose from.

2. “SiPsHitch” System AERO Specialties revolutionary SiPsHitch System is the latest and most advanced safety product in their portfolio. The patented SiPsHitch product is designed to aid in the prevention of shear pin breakage as well as aircraft nose gear damage that often occurs during aircraft towing and pushback. SiPsHitch is an add-on option for all makes of aircraft towbar type tractors. This product will visually and audibly alert the operator of a potential breakage of a shear pin or hazard and overstress situation to the aircraft gear. It will even restrict tractor power output prior to overstress and damage to the aircraft nose gear. The SiPsHitch safety product is also the perfect training assistant for new tractor operators or those refreshing their skills. The unit will intuitively teach them to tow the aircraft more carefully and will provide them with the knowledge they need to prevent costly future accidents. The patent-pending system finally addresses the constant issues caused by dangerous forces being applied upon aircraft landing gear. These dangerous forces are often associated with towing procedures when on gradients, exiting a hangar threshold, and the shock caused by braking and acceleration, plus operator error that occurs when attempting to tow with the aircraft brakes on or while the aircraft is chocked. This product is a must with aircraft insurance companies, fleet operators, and safety organizations around the world. “Safe-Lav” System Aircraft lavatory service may not be the most pleasant aspect of aviation, but as we all know it is very necessary. This is due in part because overfilling the system damages not only the lavatory components but can also flood the airframe galley and fuselage. The cost of an incident is staggering and can cost upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The new Safe-Lav™ system utilizes a dedicated batching tank to determine and restrict the maximum quantity of fluid that can be delivered to the airframe, thereby eliminating overfill conditions. The overfilling of aircraft lavatory systems, which costs countless dollars in repairs and flight hours lost each year, can now be managed and eliminated by using Safe-Lav™. Bypass Pins Bypass pins are one of those humble little pieces of equipment that don’t look or seem like much but can make all the difference. Bypass pins lockout (or “bypass”) an aircraft’s hydraulic system steering. Doing so allows the craft to be steered entirely by an aircraft pushback tug.

3. Failing to bypass the hydraulic system can lead to profound damage to the pushback tug, the aircraft, and the tug’s operator. The alternative to using a bypass pin is manually shutting down the entire hydraulic system before towing and turning it back on before flight. One pin is considerably more convenient than doing so, and a much better deal than replacing an aircraft tug. Downlock Pins and Wheel Chocks Downlock pins and wheel chocks serve the same purpose—ensuring that an aircraft’s wheels don’t move when you don’t want them to. Downlock pins lock the landing gear in place, while wheel chocks restrict the skidding or rolling of the tires. Needless to say, an aircraft that is rolling when and where it’s not wanted has the potential to cause significant damage and injury. FOD Magnetic Sweepers It doesn’t seem like simple little chunks of metal or foreign object debris (FOD), old nails, screws, steel brush bristles, etc., could or should be responsible for tens of millions dollars of damage each year. But they are. Once again, while the financial price tag for FOD is enormous, even greater is the risk that FOD damage could result in injury. Here to mitigate the risk of FOD damage are FOD magnetic sweepers, which are run over runways, taxiways, and any other surface over which tires could conceivably encounter FOD. AERO Specialties offers FOD magnetic sweepers ranging from multi-surface-magnetic-attachments that can be mounted to a rake, to the Trex FOD Finder Detection System that utilizes radar to detect and catalog FOD anywhere within the boundaries of an airfield under its surveillance. This truck-mounted system can accurately pinpoint FOD while traveling at 30 mph, in total darkness, extreme fog, pouring rain, or blizzard conditions. AERO Specialties offers these products, and dozens of other safety products, because they understand that whatever other challenges airside crew professionals encounter, offering top-of-the-line aircraft tugs and other GSE doesn’t help an airport that much if those using them aren’t safe while they do so. To see the entire selection of safety solutions AERO Specialties offers, visit https://www.aerospecialties.com/