Accepted as the standard for most airliners at airports worldwide, nose-in parking with a pushback tug on departure, wasn’t always the case. In the days of propliners, most airliners parked parallel to the terminal building and then taxied out and away under their own power.⠀ ⠀ Two factors converged to make nose-in parking necessary- the growth in passenger numbers and the arrival of larger jet aircraft in the late 1950s. Pan Am’s Worldport Terminal at JFK was a classic example- designed when Pan Am’s largest aircraft was the Douglas DC-7, the change to the Boeing 707 at Pan Am meant that for parallel parking to still be used, the Worldport would have to give up one gate so the larger 707s could be accommodated. ⠀ ⠀ With the Worldport still under construction in 1960, it had to be redesigned for nose-in parking which was a more efficient use of space and allowed for more gates than the older parallel parking layout.⠀ ⠀ At the United terminal at San Francisco, dual jetways were used with parallel parked DC-8s, but even this was a less than efficient use of space compared to nose-in parking which allowed more aircraft to be loaded/unloaded at the terminal.⠀ ⠀ In addition, jet blast meant that powering out of a parallel parking stand was more hazardous to ramp equipment and personnel compared to the prop wash of older airliners.⠀ Powerbacks were used for a while but only in tail-mounted aircraft like the Boeing 727 or the DC-9 as the risk of FOD damage was too high for an aircraft with wing engines to power back. Higher fuel prices, the need to reduce engine wear, and a gradual reduction in the number of airliners with tail-mounted engines meant that the most important vehicle at the airport is the ubiquitous push back tug!⠀ ⠀ November Aviation Photo Challenge | @kjdphoto1971 | #1119planes | “Without Them, Nothing Happens” | Day 20⠀ ⠀ #Avgeek #aviation #aircraft #planeporn #KDFW #DFW #airport #igTexas #planespotting #airlines #Boeing #787 #Dreamliner #JAL #JapanAirlines #DFWavgeek #JA868J #instagramaviation #splendid_transport #instaaviation #aviationlovers #aviationphotography #flight #AvgeekSchoolofKnowledge #AvGeeksAero #AvGeekNation (at DFW Airport) https://www.instagram.com/p/B5Fkf7phxPM/?igshid=1n2rgqnursbxq
