reverse thrusters

[O-Line]

So, if you were in our situation, how would you have handled that differently? And I'm asking seriously, not argumenatively.

I would have left the airplane in the middle of the ramp! Seriously, does that 40 year old 172 that you "blocked" really need to go somewhere that badly that they can't wait a few minutes till the FBO opens?

Any idea what you'd see out of the cockpit, if you ran over a chock, or other debris while "backing up," that's right you'd be looking at the stars, because the airplane'd be sittin on it's a$$.

Something else to think about, it's generally a good idea to call the FBO before hand and just go ahead and pay them the "after hours" fee to have someone there when you come in late. I look at it as being a $25 insurance policy that someone *might* call 911 after I roll off the end of the runway.

Finally don't get carried away with this "improvising" stuff. Improvising can easily become "cowboy" and that gives us corporate guys a bad name.

 

[PGH STEEL]

Just my .02 I think the TR's on a C-550 dont have to be stowed at 60 Kts just at idle power at 60 Kts. And as far as using TR's for backing up why? Just push it . When I was flying the II we would go into Red Oak Iowa selfserve only and the only way to get fuel was to face the pump. After fueling we would simply push it back with little to no effort.

 

[Workin'Stiff]

Remember a while back on the dc-9-30 out of MSP riding in the back, we pushed from the gate under our own power....only time I can recall ever seeing this or experiencing it. Doesn't seem to be used much anymore.

Come over to DTW. It's done every day over on the "9" side of the A gates...

 

[Workin'Stiff]

As discussed previously, 60 kts is the minimum speed at which the TR should be deployed, or stowed on a deceleration. And as stated in my previous case, I do understand its so that foreign debris doesn't get ingested. But what were we to do in that situation.

So, if you were in our situation, how would you have handled that differently? And I'm asking seriously, not argumenatively.

Don't under emphasize that there are other factors other than FOD which mitigate reverse thruster use at slow airspeeds. I know that on the large Pratts on DC-10's, they have to have the thrust reversers stowed by 80 knots due to increased chances of compressor stall. This is SOP for NW. This can be just a damaging as a FOD event. So there are other reasons to stow 'em at certain airspeeds...

However, to contrast, some GA aircraft utilize the the thrust reversers for ground speed control. For example, I've seen lots of Gulfstreams that will have one TR extended to keep taxi speeds in check.

So every aircraft's use of TR's is type specific.