SQLover From United States of America, joined Apr 2011, 8 posts, RR: 0 Posted (1 year 11 months 3 days 20 hours ago) and read 3334 times:
Hello All,
During my trip to SIN last week I noticed that there were no ground marshallers directing my arriving aircraft to its final parking position at the gate. Instead I noticed an LED board on the wall of gate which displayed the aircraft type (77W in my case) with interactive coloured arrows lighting up and directing the pilot to the parking position.
This is the first time I've seen this sort of setup and was curious if this is the norm in Changi right now or was this something else?
LAXintl From United States of America, joined May 2000, 22024 posts, RR: 51 Reply 3, posted (1 year 11 months 3 days 19 hours ago) and read 3279 times:
Quoting SQLover (Reply 2): Definitely not the norm in US airports (atleast not in LAX or SFO) that I fly out of. That's a very nice feature!
Sure we have it here at LAX. Off the top of my head, T4, T5 and UA in T7/8 have such guidance systems at some gates.
TBIT also had it when it opened in 1984, but it was withdrawn from use around 1990 when the gate spacing had to be adjusted(reduced) to handle 744s.
From the desert to the sea, to all of Southern California
Pihero From France, joined Jan 2005, 3495 posts, RR: 72 Reply 4, posted (1 year 11 months 3 days 15 hours ago) and read 3193 times:
Visual docking guidance systems have been around for quite some time.
AGNIS was for a time the most popular, but now a series of devices using Fresnel lenses are the rage.
Unfortunately, there is no standard system so we have to adapt.
*This article on wiki gives a nice introduction to the subject.
... as you can see these systems have been around since the early 1980s - In fact I did an Aero-student presentation to the RAeS on aircraft ground support equipment that included this 'new technology' many years ago!
It's better to ask a stupid question during training, rather than make a REALLY stupid mistake later on!
Dalmd88 From United States of America, joined Jul 2000, 2365 posts, RR: 15 Reply 6, posted (1 year 11 months 3 days 13 hours ago) and read 3141 times:
When terminal A in BOS opened there was a automatic guidance system. I think it lasted less than a year before DL unhooked it and went back to the human.
Starlionblue From Hong Kong, joined Feb 2004, 15870 posts, RR: 66 Reply 8, posted (1 year 11 months 3 days 11 hours ago) and read 3076 times:
I think the fact that it is rare in the US compared to Western Europe is because of two things:
- Cheaper labor in the US.
- Perhaps more restrictive liability laws in the US requiring humans.
In East Asia there's another factor at work: It's just all about having the latest and greatest tech.
"There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots." - from Citadel by John Ringo
Tristarsteve From Sweden, joined Nov 2005, 3689 posts, RR: 34 Reply 9, posted (1 year 11 months 3 days 4 hours ago) and read 2955 times:
Well you learn something every day.
I assumed it was standard everywhere.
Here at ARN we have no marshallers at all! Every single parking stand has some sort of electronic guidance. If there is a failure and marshalling is required, someone from airport operations comes out. Usually the Duty Officer, but last week we had a fireman waving the bats.
FlyASAGuy2005 From United States of America, joined Sep 2007, 6512 posts, RR: 11 Reply 12, posted (1 year 11 months 20 hours ago) and read 2618 times:
Quoting ALTF4 (Reply 11): ATL has had them for a long time, at least on most (all?) Delta gates.
Sort of. When I say theat, I mean they're not as high tech as those being discussed that tell the pilot if they are off centerline etc. They are on their own there but it is exactly like a street signal light and is operated by a ramp agent on the ground standing next to the jetway. As the a/c pulls into the gate, there is a steady green; as the nose gets closer to the stop mark it goes yellow, then red when on the mark and at pilot hits the brakes. Every DL gate save for those on C and D have this system.
CAM2:"Lightning coming out of that one." CAM1: "What?"
bohica From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 2407 posts, RR: 0 Reply 14, posted (1 year 11 months 9 hours ago) and read 2503 times:
Western Airlines developed a parking system which did not require a marshaller back in the 1960's. By today's standards it was very primitive and very cheap, but it worked. It was a piece of PVC pipe which hung down from a higher bar on a couple of chains. The captain aimed the center of the windshield toward the center of the pipe and stopped when the windshield made contact with the pipe. You can see this in the following pictures.
ha763 From United States of America, joined Jan 2003, 3492 posts, RR: 6 Reply 15, posted (1 year 11 months 8 hours ago) and read 2501 times:
Quoting FlyASAGuy2005 (Reply 12): Sort of. When I say theat, I mean they're not as high tech as those being discussed that tell the pilot if they are off centerline etc. They are on their own there but it is exactly like a street signal light and is operated by a ramp agent on the ground standing next to the jetway. As the a/c pulls into the gate, there is a steady green; as the nose gets closer to the stop mark it goes yellow, then red when on the mark and at pilot hits the brakes.
HNL has a similar system on Overseas Terminal gates, but ours has lights to guide the pilot onto the center line. Although, the only airline I see using it is HA.
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