Aircraft Pushback Tug

Can planes go in reverse? The short answer to this question is, ’yes,’ but you will rarely see this happening for two main reasons. It is costly because the plane must use its reverse thrusters and therefore uses costly fuel. Second, it is dangerous for the employees that would have to breathe in emissions from the backwards thrust. These are the reasons that when you are at an airport, you will always see a very large pushback tractor at the gate. The conventional pushback tractor is an essential piece of aircraft ground support equipment.

How Pushbacks Work

Aircraft pushback tractors can either be towbarless pushbacks or conventional pushback tractors. There are generally 3 different types of pushbacks for the commercial airline market. Pushbacks for narrow body airplanes, narrow body and wide body, and wide body. The heaviest pushback tractor weighs 135,000 lbs. and can pushback a fully loaded A380. The weight of the pushback tractor matters because if the tractor does not weigh enough then the wheels of the tractor will come off the ground.

The conventional pushback tractor must have an important piece of equipment attached to the front of it in order for it to be effective in pushing back the airplane. It is called a towbar; a towbar is a long metal pipe that has fittings on either end one that connects to the hitch on the front of the pushback and the other that connects to the front wheels of the airplane. Once the towbar is connected you are ready for pushback from the gate. The only thing that you have to check now is whether or not your pushback is heavy enough to pushback that model of airplane.

If you are in the market for a pushback you can view our current inventory below.

New 2024 TUG Alpha 1

Conventional Pushbacks

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Why lease a Pushback from Xcēd?

Xcēd has ready to go ground support equipment inventory. Need to meet a customer deadline? Not a problem. There is no need to wait for a GSE manufacturer to produce a new unit for you. You can lease either a new or low-hour, well maintained aircraft pushback from Xcēd today. We work with all of the ground support equipment manufacturers so we have all different brands and models of pushbacks that you might need to match your fleet of GSE.

We stand behind all of our GSE and our staff of trained technicians are on call in case you have a question. If you haven’t given Xcēd a try, give us a call or click the “Contact Us” button at the right of your screen and we can give you a no obligation quote on a GSE lease, rental, or purchase.

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We have new, used, and refurbished ready-to-go Ground Support Equipment inventory