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APRIL 2017 AviationPros.com 21 COVER STORY "In the 250 model, the PLC system offers five settings," Paulson explains. "The air- planes are in these ranges. The first setting is for ERJs, the next is for CRJs, the next for the E-170-195 or MD80 or MD90, the next setting is the Airbus A318-321 and Boeing 737, and the final setting enables the tug to handle a 757. "It adjusts all the parameters of the tug." LEKTRO's winch, strap and cradle con- cept also provides versatility. By pulling air- craft onto the cradle system, Paulson says the tug can handle nearly any aircraft nose gear. This is particularly valuable in general aviation, he says, noting there are thousands of aircraft and hundreds of nose gear types. "The 757 is the largest that you can stay with that," Paulson says, adding larger air- craft need to utilize a tug with a hard-cap- ture design. "This particular tug still enables us to do all the corporate aviation, plus the airlines through regional aircraft." Additional Benefits In addition to its versatility, having one tug for multiple aircraft simplifies training and maintenance as well as streamlining equip- ment needs, according to LEKTRO. Plus, the electric vehicle helps customers meet environmental criteria. "They're getting the advantage of elec- tric, which is quiet besides clean. It's easier to maintain because there are less moving parts on an electric vehicle than there are on a combustion engine vehicle," Paulson says. In addition to pushback operations, the tractor can also be used for towing, deliv- ering airplanes to hangars for maintenance needs. Paulson says LEKTRO's battery packs – the company uses lead acid batteries to take advantage of their weight – function for approximately five hours in standard pushback operations and about half that time when used for towing. "The standard pushback, slow speed units, will go about five hours on a charge. That means five hours, half towing an airplane, half empty," Paulson explains. "If we're doing high-speed towing, we're using a lot more battery consumption. So in that case, we're about two or two and a half hours. And that's still a lot of towing. "We typically see in pushback operations, that they may only use 20 percent of the battery during the day." The battery packs utilized by LEKTRO can be charged in about two hours with a rapid charge system, or eight hours with a traditional charging station. Still Looking to Improve The fr uition of the LEK T RO AP8950SDB-AL-250 is due in part to the company's desire to improve its existing offerings. "We're constantly looking at the tug, and we're constantly talking to customers as far as 'How can we make the product better?'" Paulson says. Recent examples include creating a pawl adapter that replaces multiple towbars and, with one pawl head, allows ground handlers to pushback planes as large as the 757 all the way down to CRJs and ERJs. Paulson adds the company has utilized bedliner coatings as well in an effort to minimize rust impact. And as the company continues to evolve its electric towbarless tugs, Paulson says he is getting positive feedback from custom- ers that include United, American, Delta, Southwest, JetBlue, Alaska, Air Canada, Air New Zealand, Qantas and others. Approximately 20 units of the 8950- 250 are currently in operation in locations including Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Denver, Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco, and others. "We have spent a lot of time on the ramp, monitoring what works and what doesn't – as well as talking to operators and mechan- ics," Paulson says. "If we feel we can achieve most, if not all of the objectives, we move forward with the design." sageparts.com +1.877.SAGE.877 USA & Canada +1.631.501.1300 International AviationPros.com/10017739