AERO Specialties

Extreme summer heat has, unfortunately, become an increasingly dangerous reality in the past several decades. More unfortunately, that temperature trend doesn’t appear to be going anywhere but up. And airside ground crews can be particularly vulnerable to the dangers of extreme heat. They work outdoors for much or most of the day, often on heat-holding blacktop. Working with or near the heated engines of aircraft tugs and dozens of other running pieces of ground support equipment (GSE) doesn’t help either. Dealing with the heat isn’t just an issue of being uncomfortable for those ground crews either. It can interfere with work, costing quite a bit of money and passenger time, but most alarmingly, it can endanger the physical safety and even lives of crew members and those who work around them. The following is a brief overview of some of those risks and ways in which members of those crews, and those managing them, can mitigate those risks. The Risks and Consequenc...

Communication is absolutely vital for any business’s efficiency, success, and often, safety. That’s doubly true in the aviation industry and with airside ground crews. It’s easy to see how communication failures involving personnel operating multi-ton aircraft tugs hauling multimillion dollar airliners can have some incredibly dire consequences. Unfortunately, the importance of communication is so often cited it can fade into the background and not be proactively discussed, improved, and implemented. Thankfully, there are ways to improve that communication and safety among ground crews and other aviation personnel. Importance and Benefits of Improved Communication In case the benefits, and necessity, of effective communication aren’t clear, they include more efficiency, better productivity, and a far safer work environment. And all of those things can mean more money. After all, the more efficiently work gets done, the more of it gets done. Efficiency also preserve...

A commercial aircraft being grounded unexpectedly, even for a few minutes, can cost airlines thousands of dollars, mess up schedules, upset passengers, and spin off into a series of additional problems and expenses. Some delays and groundings are unavoidable, of course, but the last thing any airside ground crew wants is to be the cause of a plane being grounded due to ground support equipment (GSE) failure. Even more serious is the prospect of GSE failure on the ramp leading to not just delays or groundings but damage to aircraft tugs and other GSE or aircraft, or, worse yet, injuries to ground or flight crew, or even passengers. That’s why taking any extra steps to fully ensure that GSE is running reliably and efficiently is always worth it Meet the Maintenance Schedule It’s probably no surprise that the most effective way to guarantee that GSE remains in good working order is to be vigilant about the maintenance schedule. Anyone who has worked as a mechanic or...

Imagine working in an environment where hundreds or thousands of vehicles, ranging from cart-to truck-sized to nearly a million pounds, operate every day. As even a brief period of inactivity or lateness can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, all of those vehicles are being operated with as much haste as (hopefully) is deemed safe. The environment is further bombarded with the roar of huge engines and hazy with their exhaust. Given all this it’s likely chaotic and necessarily high stress.   Of course, that’s exactly the environment in which thousands of airside ground staff and aviation personnel work in every day. And since every indication suggests that rates of air travel are going to continue increasing, it’s likely only going to get busier, more congested, and more chaotic. Airports and ground support equipment (GSE) producers, however, are hard at work making sure that for the average baggage handler or aircraft pushback operator, in the airside of ...

By any standard, the aviation industry is incredibly important. According to research, from driving aircraft tugs to selling duty-free gifts, the aviation industry generates well over 10 million jobs directly and supports many more indirectly. The world’s airlines transport more than 4 billion people and 62 million tons of cargo and freight every year. And altogether, it produces and contributes over $2.7 trillion to the global gross domestic product. That’s 3.6% of the entire planet’s GDP. A considerable percentage of the rest of the world’s industries and economies rely on the quick and efficient transport of people, goods, and technology. And when tourism and tourism-supported jobs are included, how much of the global economy peripherally relies on air travel is anyone’s guess. There’s no question about how undeniably crucial the aviation industry is for the health and growth of our economic, technological, social, and recreational pursuits. However, there’s a f...

The transport of dangerous cargo by air—be it undeclared or responsibly prepared, declared, labeled, and accounted for—is no small undertaking. Air transport of dangerous cargo is accompanied by a number of specific challenges, some of them unique to aviation. One of them is the great diversity and range of what’s considered dangerous cargo. Much of it seems obviously hazardous: explosives, powerful acids, extremely volatile accelerants and fuels like gasoline, and radioactive and fissile material. It can be far less cut and dry however, with some thermometers and anything else containing mercury, as well as nail polish, nail polish remover, a whole gamut of aerosol sprays, and virtually all batteries and anything with them (particularly lithium batteries) qualifying as dangerous goods. Additionally, if anything does go wrong with dangerous goods during flight, a fire for instance, it’s not like an aircraft can just pull over to the shoulder and wait for the fire ...

If there’s an occupation that requires those practicing it to avoid distraction, it’s members of airside ground crews. For one, the functioning of an airport relies on the ground crew performing quickly but efficiently, accurately, and effectively. Failing to do so can cost the airlines thousands, even millions of dollars. That alone both requires and justifies the need to avoid distractions. However, there’s a reason even more compelling than the millions of dollars at stake for those airside ground crews to pay attention: safety. Not that the ground crews would want it any other way, but along with being one of the most stressful and demanding jobs, it can also be one of the most dangerous. It combines the same heavy lifting and trip and fall hazards of other occupations with the collision risks accompanying those in and around fleets of aircraft tugs , baggage carts, and the rest of the ground support equipment (GSE). Add in constant loud noise and massive aircraf...