Back it up

Heck, I've never seen it done that way. Where's the rear view mirror on an MD-80?
 
Used to be much more common before Jet A went up in price. I recall being on both MD80s and a 737 when that was done.
 
Saw it a few times on the Continental ramp in DEN at the old Stapleton. When they approved it, we had to do it with wing walkers.

Mostly it was just noisy as hell.
 
Back in the 80's in MEM we had the largest all at one time push in the world with 57 jets leaving the gates in about a ten minute time span......about 15 or 20 were powerbacks like this 80. DC-9's and 727's were doing powerbacks. If the 727's got rolling in reverse a bit quickly hitting the brakes could be a bad idea so they got off the reversers and hit the forward thrust.....on occasion something would get in the way.......saw a dumpster blown over a wall one time....
 
It is a bit unusual, but I remember being being on jets that backed off that way in Austin, TX. I don't recall seeing it at other airports I've been to.
 
Sigh. Another pilot not clear on procedures.

"To back up, turn to your right so you can see through the back window. Turn your head and body to the right until you can see clearly through the back window. To improve balance, a drivers right arm can be draped over the back of the seat. The left hand grips the steering wheel near the top and turns it in the direction a driver wants the vehicle to go."

I did NOT see that the captain's right arm was draped over the back of his seat.
 
I was on a plane one time when the captain said he was going to do it citing the need to practice in case it was ever needed.

I seem to recall him also stating that it was practiced on a regular interval.

I thought it was pretty cool.
 
wsuffa said:
Used to be much more common before Jet A went up in price. I recall being on both MD80s and a 737 when that was done.
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I remember it on 727s but not 737s. Doing it on a low slung wing engine is practically asking for FOD.
 
DutchRoller said:
I remember it on 727s but not 737s. Doing it on a low slung wing engine is practically asking for FOD.
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The planes I saw backing in this fashion were wing mounted under the wings, but I saw your point. It was humid for one flight and I saw little "tornados" from the ground directly under the inlet to the inlet and they persisted into normal taxi.i was amazed the air would make such a turn, and also saw the stickers showing danger areas around the engine were spot on- even the side of the fan wasn't safe.
 
Didn't that used to be "the normal way"?

I think it's all tugs these days to transfer cost from the fuel bill to the airport ground ops labor budget (aka union dues)
 
Ravioli said:
Didn't that used to be "the normal way"?
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Not really. Not when I was on the ramp, anyway. Doing that is both a hazard (pilot can't see), uses a ton of fuel, and generally was not done unless a base had a whole bunch, and I mean a LOT, of broken tugs. It just doesn't take that long to push somebody, wave bye bye, and hook on to someone else and push them.

Pushing the widebodies was always the most fun. Unless the ramp was crowded, it was night, and the ramp was slick. Then you worried about how many thousands of dollars of damage you'd be doing if you pushed the airplane into something.

But a nice day, a huge paymover, and shoving a widebody around was fun.
 
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