How To Tow A £150m Aircraft Weighing Hundreds Of Tonnes Around An Air Base

Anyone troubled by parallel parking might be slightly unnerved by the thought of carefully towing a 265-tonne aircraft worth about £150 million while turning in and out of an RAF hangar.

Add to that the fact that the tow tractor you are manoeuvring weighs about 55 tonnes and that you have to turn in a limited space and it’s enough to make any driver sweat.

RAF flight operations and airfield support personnel, however, are trained to the highest standards in the handling and movement of aircraft, with specialist training by theAirfield Support Mechanical Transport (ASMT) section at RAF Brize Norton.

Teams of student RAF personnel from various airfields have been learning how to safely move aircraft as part of the regular training at Brize, as they drive a big, yellow heavy vehicle known as a Large Aircraft Tow Tractor (LATT) - a familiar sight at the air base - which are capable of moving 500 tonne vehicles.

Forces Radio BFBS presenter Alex Gill was given a look behind the scenes at RAF Brize Norton's Airfield Support Mechanical Transport section with Corporal Adam Harley as part of a series on the Royal Air Force in its centenary year.

ASMT are responsible for all manner of jobs on the enormous airfield, from refuelling the aircraft, to de-icing them during winter.

They are also responsible for towing the aircraft on the RAF’s largest air base.

"It’s capable of pushing 400-500 tonnes. You get butterflies when you hear the engines fire up.

To see the student's face when it ends up bang on the line. There's nothing better."

The airfield is home to the UK's C-17, C-130, A400M and Voyager fleet.

Each aircraft has a different flying programme and each needs moving to different parts of the airfield for maintenance, loading and unloading, and refuelling.

Depending on which bay in which the aircraft is parked, it may also require a pushback from the gate before it is able to taxi.

Below, hear from a student from RAF Marham and the RAF Brize Norton instructor after the lesson: 

Images courtesy of RAF Brize Norton Photographic Section.