A dolly for placement beneath a landing gear of an aircraft that enables transport of the aircraft without rolling the tire of the aircraft. The dolly includes a platform for a tire to rest on and a channel for positioning the tire. The dolly includes a winch for translating the dolly and aircraft tire relative to each other such that the landing gear is brought to rest on the platform, and one or more stops for securing the aircraft landing gear with respect to the dolly. Once positioned, the dolly can be used while transporting the aircraft, either by hand pushing, a hand towbar, a motorized tug with a towbar, or other mode. The dolly is useful for moving aircraft with a damaged landing gear or flat tires.

A ground support tractor for providing ground support services at an airport. The ground support tractor has a cab forward configuration and a cab aft configuration. The ground support tractor includes a common chassis having a forward mounting location and an aft mounting location. A drivetrain and a battery system are coupled to the common chassis. In the cab forward configuration of the ground support tractor, the battery system is coupled to the aft mounting location and positioned above the drivetrain. In the cab aft configuration of the ground support tractor, the battery system is coupled to the forward mounting location and positioned forward of the drivetrain.

A dolly with a U-shaped frame has parallel side beams and a lowered bed platform of two parallel spaced plates. An open ended dolly with corresponding side beams and a platform bed may connect to the dolly with the U-shape at hinge plate connections on the side beams of the dolly with the U-shaped frame and the open ended dolly. A ramp that is lowerable to engage the tarmac is raisable to engage the platform bed of the open ended dolly. The two dollies having a combined length of at least 9 feet. An open ended dolly may have a pair of fixed ramps extending from the bed platform downwardly. Each ramped displaced inwardly in a forward rearward direction from the respective ends of the open ended dolly.

A dolly with a U-shaped frame has parallel side beams and a lowered bed platform of two parallel spaced plates. An open ended dolly with corresponding side beams and a platform bed may connect to the dolly with the U-shape at hinge plate connections on the side beams of the dolly with the U-shaped frame and the open ended dolly. A ramp that is lowerable to engage the tarmac is raisable to engage the platform bed of the open ended dolly. The two dollies having a combined length of at least 9 feet. An open ended dolly may have a pair of fixed ramps extending from the bed platform downwardly. Each ramped displaced inwardly in a forward rearward direction from the respective ends of the open ended dolly.

A ground support tractor for providing ground support services at an airport. The ground support tractor has a cab forward configuration and a cab aft configuration. The ground support tractor includes a common chassis having a forward mounting location and an aft mounting location. An operator tub is coupled to the common chassis. In the cab forward configuration, the operator tub is coupled to the forward mounting location. In the cab aft configuration, the operator tub is coupled to the aft mounting location.

An airport collision avoidance system may include a tow vehicle configured to move an aircraft, the tow vehicle having a first beacon. The airport collision avoidance system may include at least one second beacon associated with at least one object. The airport collision avoidance system may include one or more processing circuits including one or more processors and one or more memories having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: form a mesh network connection between the first beacon and the at least one second beacon; identify relative positionings between the tow vehicle, the aircraft, and the at least one object based on the mesh network connection; and at least partially control the tow vehicle based on the relative positionings between the tow vehicle, the aircraft, and the at least one object.

A towbarless tractor for towing an airplane having a nose landing gear includes a chassis, a body supported on the chassis, a tractive assembly, a driveline configured to drive and steer the tractive assembly, a braking system configured to apply a brake force to the tractive assembly, a capture system including an actuator configured to facilitate capturing the nose landing gear within the capture system, and a controller. The controller is acquire data regarding the airplane, and generate or modify, based on the data, at least one of (a) a steering command provided to the driveline as the capture system approaches the nose landing gear or (b) a side-shift command provided to the actuator as the capture system approaches the nose landing gear.

A towbarless tractor includes a chassis, a body supported on the chassis, a tractive assembly, a driveline configured to drive and steer the tractive assembly, a braking system configured to apply a brake force to the tractive assembly, and a controller. The controller is configured to command the driveline to autonomously follow a travel path taken from a home location to a pushback location in a reverse order to return from the pushback location to the home location, and determine, when navigating from the pushback location to the home location, if an object is in a return path from the pushback location to the home location.

A vehicle for towing an airplane includes a chassis, a body coupled to the chassis, the body and the chassis having a first side and a second side opposite the first side, a tractive assembly, a tow mechanism configured to engage with a nose landing gear of the airplane, a light system including a first lighting element positioned along the first side and a second lighting element positioned along the second side, and a control system configured to monitor a direction of travel of the vehicle and control operation of the light system to selectively illuminate the first lighting element and the second lighting element to provide an indication of the direction of travel of the vehicle, thereby making the direction of travel of the vehicle perceivable to an operator positioned outside of the vehicle.

A vehicle for towing an airplane includes a chassis, a body coupled to the chassis, the body and the chassis having a first side and a second side opposite the first side, a tractive assembly, a tow mechanism configured to engage with a nose landing gear of the airplane, a light system including a first lighting element positioned along the first side and a second lighting element positioned along the second side, and a control system configured to monitor a direction of travel of the vehicle and control operation of the light system to selectively illuminate the first lighting element and the second lighting element to provide an indication of the direction of travel of the vehicle, thereby making the direction of travel of the vehicle perceivable to an operator positioned outside of the vehicle.