Overview: 

Towbarless Pushbacks

With Douglas towbarless tractors from Textron GSE, you’ll experience greater fuel efficiency, freedom of movement, and excellent safety features. These pushbacks use the aircraft’s nose wheel weight to gain traction. This results in a lighter aircraft tractor that uses less fuel than conventional pushbacks with greater operational efficiency. Towbarless tractors also give you the freedom to travel in either direction, forward or back by simply rotating the driver cab, and are compatible with more aircraft than conventional aircraft tractors. With numerous safety features and exceptional visibility, Douglas towbarless tractors are designed for increased safety. You can count on Textron GSE to provide quality ground support equipment.

Douglas Towbarless Tugs from Textron GSE

Towbarless tractors leverage the aircraft’s weight to gain traction, making them a highly efficient and versatile alternative to traditional pushbacks. If you need a towbarless tractor compatible with many types of aircraft, look to Textron GSE’s pushback tractors. Our conventional and towbarless aircraft tractors are produced to perform and exceed industry standards, to improve your ground support operations.

Both towbarless tractors and conventional pushbacks move aircraft away from the gate by providing external force. This means the aircraft does not need to use its own power to reverse. Typically, the pushback procedure is the second part of a ‘Taxi in Push Out’ (TIPO) process at the terminal gates. Where traditional pushback tugs attach to the aircraft nose landing gear with a towbar, towbarless tractors use two low level arms instead. Using these arms, towbarless tractors use a cradle assembly to capture the nose wheel of the aircraft, raising it slightly off the ground. Using this method, towbarless tractors are able to move the aircraft both backward and forward for pushback and towing operations.

Textron GSE offers towbarless pushbacks to accommodate a wide variety of aircraft and ground handling crew size. If you need assistance choosing the best pushback tractor for your needs, contact us for support!

At Textron GSE our distinguished brands have a rich legacy of innovation, superior support and service, ensuring the world's airlines, freight carriers and airports are ready to exceed expectations. Textron GSE remains dedicated to providing and elevating its standard of support that continues to keep the world moving.

Our ground support equipment and service solutions make your crew’s jobs safer, simpler and more efficient. Our products include towbarless tractors and conventional pushbacks, baggage tractors, belt loaders, deicers, air start units, and more. Textron GSE’s world-class, global manufacturing facilities produces high quality, reliable equipment you can count on. With Textron GSE, we back up our high quality equipment with unparalleled service to make sure your satisfaction continues well beyond the initial purchase.

Interested in learning more about how Textron GSE’s Douglas towbarless tractors can improve your ground handling procedures? Reach out to us today for a quote.

PUSHBACKS

Towbarless

TBL-400

  • Excellent for higher speed applications with wide bodied aircraft, the Douglas TBL-400 towbarless aircraft tractor is designed for pushback, inter-gate towing, and longer distance maintenance towing. This unit is CAAC certified and CE certified.
DETAILS

TBL-280

  • The Douglas TBL-280 towbarless tractor is an excellent choice for aircraft towing. Ideal for pushback, inter-gate towing, and longer distance maintenance towing operations at higher speeds with narrow and wide bodied aircraft. The TBL-280 is CAAC certifie
DETAILS

TBL-180

  • The Douglas TBL-180 towbarless tractor is ideal for pushback and inter-gate towing, and for shorter distance slower speed maintenance towing operations. The TBL-180 is CAAC certified and CE certified
DETAILS