What are the names of the vehicles to provide assistance to aircraft during the turnaround?

Question

During the turnaround many vehicles support the aircraft on the gate. What are the name of those "vehicles"and their purpose?

there are a lot of different vehicles, list style questions like this are not a good fit for SE in general. — ratchet freak, Oct 31 '17 at 13:14
In my experience, almost all of them are referred to as "tugs", since they are usually pulling or pushing something (luggage carts, the aircraft, etc). — Ron Beyer, Oct 31 '17 at 13:50
I wouldn't say that @RonBeyer, there's follow-me cars, catering lifts, luggage ramps, etc. I agree this is a bit broad. — GdD, Oct 31 '17 at 14:28
@GdD Yeah, forgot about those ones. VTC though for being too broad. — Ron Beyer, Oct 31 '17 at 14:47
I was about to post an answer with this information which provides names, but I see @TomMcW already provided a best one. See also on Wikipedia: Ground support equipment. You may also search videos for "turnaround timelapse". Come on, this question isn't "too broad" and it's actually a very interesting one. — mins, Oct 31 '17 at 19:14

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 01 '17 at 02:34

The most common vehicle seen is the tug.

Tugs are multipurpose tractors that are used to tow around all sorts of things.

Several types of equipment are shown in this diagram:

The tow vehicle at the nose is more commonly referred to as a pushback tug. They come in different sizes. Here is an example:

The GPU is most often a unit that is towed behind a tug. ^source

Belt loaders usually can be driven on their own:

The wide loader is used to put cargo containers in the hold: ^source

The cabin cleaning truck and galley service truck often have a lift built in:

Luggage can be brought in baggage carts

or in cargo containers which are brought to the aircraft on dollies ^source

Another vehicle often seen is the people mover:

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 31 '17 at 20:54

3

In general, you could refer to most of the vehicles and their attachments/trailers as ground support equipment (GSE)

answered Oct 31 '17 at 20:54

Evan Krueger

This does answer half of the question only. What is their purpose? – mins Nov 01 '17 at 11:21

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 31 '17 at 15:29

0

The vehicle is usually called a ground tug.

answered Oct 31 '17 at 15:29

Romeo_4808N

1

There are many other vehicle types used too. – fooot Oct 31 '17 at 17:25
1

Turnaround does not refer to physically turning the plane around ;) – Sanchises Oct 31 '17 at 22:14

3 Answers3