The Goldhofer story begins.
The first mention of a “Goldhofer'' is of a blacksmith shop run near Memmingen dating back to 1705. In this exact town, Alois Goldhofer, founder of the company, was born on April 20, 1922. In 1946, he founded Allgäuer Fahrzeugwerke Alois Goldhofer KG and produced pneumatic farm trailers. In 1952, Goldhofer, together with tire manufacturer Metzeler, developed the first lowbed trailer that could be loaded with ramps. Fueled by the success of this creation the company went to be one of the world leaders in oversized cargo transport. And yes, that includes pushing back airplanes with a tow tractor.
A tow tractor - what’s that?
In aviation, pushback is an airport procedure during which an aircraft is pushed backwards away from its parking position, usually at an airport gate. Pushbacks are carried out by special, low-profile vehicles called tow or pushback tractors.
Fact: many aircraft are capable of moving themselves backwards on the ground using reverse thrust (a procedure referred to as a powerback). However, the resulting jet blast or prop wash would cause increased noise, potential damage to buildings or equipment, and hurt airport staff if the engines were to kick up debris. The pushback procedure is therefore the preferred method when handling aircraft.
Tame a BISON D1000 in AirportSim!
The Goldhofer BISON family consists of a comprehensive range of aircraft tow tractors capable of handling passenger and cargo aircraft between 150 and 600 tonnes... Because the product family is modular, customers can choose between diesel and electric power trains. We chose the popular D1000 model to be featured in AirportSim. It is an unstoppable powerhouse and mercilessly tows aircraft like the Airbus A320neo or 737 MAX, of which both will be present in AirportSim.
So get your working gloves on, grab hold of the BISON’s steering wheel and get on the apron! After all and as you’ve learned, those airplanes won't push back themselves.
