NMX‑TBT‑30 / Rev 00 / aircraft ground support / beam · head · limit 2026 · Product Page

NMX-TBT-30 · ENGINEERED TO ORDER — AIRCRAFT TOWBARS & TOWBARLESS TUGS

A towbar has to move a hundred tonnes and break before the nose gear does.

Name: Aircraft Towbar and Towbarless Tug
Brand: Neometrix

That is the whole brief, and it is stranger than it sounds. Ordinary structures are designed to survive; a towbar is designed with a deliberate weakest link, because if it does not fail first the load goes into the nose landing gear — the most expensive thing on the apron to bend. So the shear pin protects the aircraft, not the tool, and it has to be replaceable on the apron: a pin nobody can change quietly gets replaced with a stronger one, and the protection moves to the aeroplane. The head is the part that belongs to the type — fitting, pin, tow height and articulation all differ — so a “universal” towbar is universal in its beam and its adapters, never in its interface. A towbarless tug deletes the bar entirely, lifts the nosewheel and carries the nose weight, which trades the mechanical fuse for an instrumented steering limit. Equipment of this class has been quoted across aircraft towbar and towbarless tug requirements for defence and aerospace operators; no delivered aircraft towbar or towbarless tug is claimed — the class is engineered to order.

Enquire — towbars & tugs Capability sheet (PDF)

Illustrative of the class — a long heavy aircraft towbar resting on an empty concrete apron: a straight painted dark-grey steel box-section beam with a machined bright-steel tow head at the far end carrying a large vertical chrome pin, a yellow-painted lifting handle arching over the middle, a pair of small solid black rubber castor wheels on a folding leg beneath the centre, and a heavy machined hitch eye at the near end, on clean brushed concrete with faint painted apron line markings, no aircraft, no people and no readable markings

Fig · 01 The towbar — a beam that can be common across a fleet, and a head that cannot

Protects

the nose gearnot the tool

Fails

at the pinon purpose

Universal in

the beamnever the head

Judged on

stoppingnot pulling

Status

engineered to orderquoted class

ISO 9001 / 14001 Engineered to order Ground support equipment Proof load tested Noida · India

Overview

Everything else is built to survive. This is built to break.

Once you accept that, the rest of the design follows — where the weak link sits, how easily it can be changed, and what happens on the day somebody decides it is failing too often.

Illustrative of the class — close view of the head end of an aircraft towbar on clean concrete: a machined bright-steel fork fitting with two parallel jaws, a large vertical chrome shear pin through the jaws with a bright retaining collar and small lanyard ring, an adjustable height slide with a row of plain drilled holes and a locking handle beneath the fitting, and a pivoting articulation joint where the head meets the dark-grey painted beam, no aircraft, no people and no readable markings

Fig · 02 The head — fitting, shear pin, height adjustment and articulation: the part that belongs to the aircraft type

The fuse has to be in the right place. A towbar sits in a load path that runs from a tug, through a beam, into the aircraft's nose gear. Something in that chain will be the weakest, and the only question is whether that was decided by an engineer or by chance. So the shear pin or torque limiter is deliberately rated below the gear's towing limit, and its rating is demonstrated by proof load testing rather than calculated and forgotten. The result is a component whose whole purpose is to be sacrificed — which is why the design detail that matters most is not its strength but how quickly a fresh one can be fitted in the open air, in poor light, by someone wearing gloves.

Because if it is awkward, it will be defeated. This is the failure mode nobody writes down. A pin that shears often, and is difficult to replace, invites a well-meant local decision to fit something stronger — at which point the protection has not been removed, it has been transferred to the aeroplane, and nobody finds out until a gear is damaged. So spares provisioning, stowage on the bar itself, and a pin that cannot easily be substituted by the wrong item are part of the engineering rather than the paperwork.

And the head is where the fleet stops being one fleet. Tow fitting geometry, pin diameter, tow height above the ground and the articulation the gear permits all vary by aircraft type. The beam, the wheels and the hitch can be shared; the interface cannot. So the honest form of a “universal” towbar is a common beam with a defined set of interchangeable heads or adapters, and the specification that matters lists which types are covered rather than claiming all of them.

Equipment of this class has been quoted across aircraft towbar and towbarless tug requirements for defence and aerospace operators. No delivered aircraft towbar or towbarless tug is claimed: the class is engineered to order, and the record is stated as it stands.

Sacrificial

The pin goes first

Rated below the gear's towing limit and proof load tested — not calculated and forgotten.

Replaceable

Changed in the open air

Because an awkward pin gets swapped for a stronger one — and the protection moves to the aircraft.

Honest

Universal in the beam

A defined set of heads and adapters, with the covered types named rather than the word claimed.

Architecture

Attach, move, protect, stop.

The schematic follows the operation — attaching at a type-specific fitting, moving a very large mass slowly, protecting the gear through a deliberate weak link, and stopping — then the equipment: beam, head, wheels or cradle, and drive with its limits.

FIG · 03TOWBAR & TUG ARCHITECTURE · BEAM + SHEAR PROTECTION / HEAD + ADAPTERS / WHEELS OR CRADLE / DRIVE, BRAKING + STEERING LIMITS

Fig · 03 An instrumented limit as trustworthy as the shear pin it replaced

Arc · 01

Beam & Shear Protection

A deliberate weakest link, rated below the gear's limit — proof load tested, and replaceable on the apron.

Arc · 02

Head & Adapters

Fitting, pin, tow height and articulation per type — with the adapter set that lets one beam serve several aircraft.

Arc · 03

Wheels or Cradle

Castors and lifting handle on a towbar — or, on a tug, the nosewheel cradle, its clamping and the lift that takes the nose weight.

Arc · 04

Drive, Braking & Limits

Electric drive, braking sized to the stop, enforced steering angle — interlocks and an operator console that sees what matters.

Moving a mixed fleet with one set of equipment? Send the aircraft types, their tow fittings and tow heights, and the approved towing and steering limits — a clause-by-clause compliance matrix within two working days · [email protected]

Send tender spec

Specifications

Reference equipment, built to the fleet.

The parameters below describe reference equipment. Beam length and section, shear rating, head fitting and adapter set, wheel and lift arrangement and — for a tug — cradle, drive and braking all follow from three givens: the aircraft types to be moved, their tow fittings and tow heights, and the approved towing and steering limits published for each.

Fig · 04 The tug — cradle, lift arms and console: no towbar, and therefore no mechanical fuse

Where aircraft towing goes wrong

Shear protection sized for the towbar's survival — rated so the bar never breaks, which simply means something else does. A shear pin that cannot be changed on the apron — the quiet start of a stronger pin being fitted and the protection moving to the aeroplane. “Universal” claimed for the interface — rather than for the beam, so the head does not actually fit half the fleet it was bought for. Steering limits not enforced on a towbarless tug — the single most serious error in the class, because the mechanical fuse has been removed and nothing replaced it. Braking sized to the pull — a machine that can move more than it can reliably halt, on a surface that may be wet. And no flight-deck communication discipline — the one failure mode that is purely procedural and still causes damage.

So the discipline runs the other way. The shear rating is set below the gear's published towing limit and demonstrated by proof load test, with spare pins stowed on the bar and specified so the wrong item cannot be substituted. The head range is stated by naming the aircraft types covered. On a tug, the aircraft's steering envelope is configured, enforced and alarmed, and over-travel is prevented rather than reported. Braking is sized to stop the mass on a wet surface, not to match the pull. Visibility from the operating position, and the communication protocol with the flight deck, are treated as part of the equipment. And everything is proof tested and documented before handover.

Full specification — expand

System	Aircraft towbar & towbarless tug — beam & shear protection, head & adapters, wheels or nosewheel cradle, drive, braking & steering limits
Governing Idea	The towbar is a fuse — strong enough to move the aircraft and deliberately weak enough to break first, because the alternative load path runs into the nose landing gear
Shear Protection	Shear pin or torque limiter rated below the gear's towing limit, demonstrated by proof load test; spares stowed on the bar and specified so a stronger substitute cannot casually be fitted
Replaceability	Pin changeable on the apron, in poor light, wearing gloves — because an awkward pin is eventually replaced with a stronger one and the protection moves to the aeroplane
The Head	The aircraft-specific part — tow fitting geometry, pin diameter, tow height and permitted articulation differ by type; the beam, wheels and hitch can be common, the head cannot
“Universal”	Universal in the beam and adapter set, never in the interface — specified by naming the types covered rather than by the word itself
Towbarless Tug	Drives to the gear, lifts the nosewheel into a cradle, clamps it and carries the nose weight — deleting the towbar and the mechanical fuse with it
Steering Limits	The nose gear's maximum steering angle configured, enforced and alarmed; over-travel prevented rather than reported, because the instrumented limit is now the only protection
Braking & Speed	Sized to stop the mass on a wet surface rather than to match the pull — pushback is low speed and high consequence throughout
Operator Interface	Visibility from the operating position, clear controls, interlocks, and a defined communication protocol with the flight deck — treated as part of the equipment
Verification	Proof load testing, function testing of limits and interlocks, and acceptance test procedures run before handover
The Split	The site's disabled aircraft recovery kit moves a disabled aircraft after an incident — lifting, supporting and shifting something that may not roll, once in a long while, under pressure. This equipment moves a serviceable aircraft on its own wheels, every day. Different event, different frequency, different design driver. Access ladders and passenger steps share the apron-duty constraints, and both sit inside the site's mechanical ground support equipment family
Scope Boundary	Ours: beam & shear protection, head & adapter sets, castors & lift, nosewheel cradle & clamping, electric drive & braking, steering-angle limits & interlocks, proof load testing, acceptance procedures, installation, commissioning, documentation, training, spares & AMC — including build to the customer's specification. Bought-in certified: drives, batteries, sensors, control hardware. The customer's: the aircraft types, their tow fittings and their approved towing limits
Status	Engineered to order — equipment of this class quoted across aircraft towbar and towbarless tug requirements for defence and aerospace operators; no delivered aircraft towbar or towbarless tug is claimed

PDF · 1 page

Aircraft Towbar & Towbarless Tug — Capability Sheet

Tender Response

Send aircraft types, tow fittings & towing limits — compliance matrix in two working days

Variants

Four ways to move an aeroplane.

What changes is how many types must be covered, and whether the fuse is mechanical or instrumented.

Var · 01

Conventional Per-Type Towbars

One type, one head, one shear rating — the simplest and most certain arrangement where the fleet is uniform.

Var · 02

Universal Adjustable Towbars

A common beam with an adapter set — covering a named list of types, with the shear rating matched to each head.

Var · 03

Electric Towbarless Tugs

Nosewheel lifted, clamped and carried — no bar, and an enforced steering limit standing in for the shear pin.

Var · 04

Remote-Controlled Hangar Tugs

Low profile, walked alongside — for tight hangar movement where the operator needs to stand where the clearance is.

Applications

Wherever an aircraft has to be moved without flying.

The flight lines, hangars and delivery centres where this happens many times a day.

A · 01Air force & naval air station flight lines

A · 02MRO & hangar movement

A · 03Production & delivery centres

A · 04Rotary-wing movement & handling

A · 05Civil narrow-body ramp operations

A · 06Recovery & incident support

FAQ

Common questions.

Plain-language answers from the engineering team.

Q · 01 Why would you design something to break?

Because in this load path something is going to be the weakest, and the only real choice is whether an engineer decides which. A towbar connects a tug, weighing a few tonnes and capable of applying far more force than anyone intends, to an aircraft's nose landing gear — a slender, highly loaded, precisely made structure that is expensive to inspect and ruinous to replace. Towing loads are not smooth: a tug pulls away sharply, an aircraft's brakes are still partly on, a wheel drops into a joint in the concrete, someone turns too tightly. Any of those can spike the load well beyond the steady pull. If the towbar is the strongest thing in the chain, that spike goes into the gear, and the damage may not even be visible — an overload can leave a gear that looks fine and is no longer airworthy, which is worse than one that obviously bent. So a sacrificial element is placed in the bar, rated comfortably below the gear's published towing limit, and it is meant to break. When it does, the aircraft is undamaged, the bar is repaired in minutes with a spare pin, and the event is visible rather than hidden. The engineering effort goes into making the rating accurate — proof load tested rather than merely calculated — because a fuse that breaks too early is a nuisance that invites people to defeat it, and one that breaks too late is not a fuse at all.

Q · 02 What does “universal” honestly mean for a towbar?

It means the beam is universal, not the interface — and any supplier who blurs that is selling you a problem. The end that attaches to the tug is genuinely common: a hitch eye or ring that suits standard tug couplings. The beam itself can be common too, provided its shear rating suits the heaviest aircraft in the set. But the end that attaches to the aircraft is defined entirely by the type. Tow fitting geometry differs — some gears present a pair of lugs, others a single fitting, in different sizes. Pin diameter differs. Tow height above the ground differs with gear length and aircraft attitude, so the head must sit at the right height or it applies a vertical component the gear was never meant to see. And the articulation permitted varies, since some gears tolerate more angular movement between bar and aircraft than others. So a properly engineered universal towbar is a common beam plus a defined set of interchangeable heads or adapters, each matched to a type and each with a shear element rated for that type's limit. The specification that actually protects you names the aircraft types covered and states the rating for each. A specification that simply says universal is telling you the supplier has not done that work — and the day an unlisted type arrives on the ramp, someone will try to make it fit.

Q · 03 Is a towbarless tug simply better?

It is better at several things and it moves the risk rather than removing it, which is worth being clear about. What it gains is real: no towbar to fetch, fit, stow or match to a type, so a single machine can move a mixed fleet; better traction, because the nose weight it lifts presses down through its own driven wheels instead of relying on ballast; and far more precise low-speed control in confined space, which is why they are common in hangars. What it gives up is the shear pin. Once the nosewheel is lifted into a cradle and clamped, there is no sacrificial element anywhere between the tug's drive and the aircraft's gear — the fuse has been deleted. Two things must replace it. First, an enforced steering limit: every nose gear has a maximum steering angle beyond which the gear is damaged, and since the tug now rotates the wheel directly it must know that envelope for the specific type it is carrying and physically prevent exceeding it, not merely warn. Second, controlled loading: the lift, clamp and drive have to apply force smoothly enough that the tug cannot generate a spike the deleted pin would have absorbed. Both are software and sensors doing a job that used to be done by a piece of steel of known strength, which is entirely workable — but only if those functions are specified, tested and maintained with the seriousness the pin used to earn by being simple.

Q · 04 Why do you keep saying stopping matters more than pulling?

Because the pull is easy and the stop is where the damage happens. Moving an aircraft on level ground takes surprisingly little force — rolling resistance on good concrete is a small fraction of the weight, so the tractive effort figure in a brochure is rarely the constraint. Stopping the same mass is a different problem entirely, because all of that momentum now has to be taken by the tug's brakes, through its tyres, on a surface that may be wet, oily or freshly rained on. And the aircraft behind is not a rigid trailer: it has its own brakes, which may be applied or released by the flight deck at moments the tug driver does not control, and its own inertia acting through the tow connection. A tug specified on tractive effort alone can therefore be perfectly capable of setting an aircraft moving and incapable of halting it before it reaches something. That is why the useful specification is braked mass on a defined surface condition, with a stated stopping distance, rather than pull. It is also why the whole operation is deliberately slow — a pushback happens at walking pace not because the machinery is weak but because low speed is what makes the consequences recoverable. And it is why visibility from the operating position and a clear, disciplined communication protocol with the flight deck are counted as part of the equipment: most towing incidents are not failures of steel, they are failures of someone knowing what someone else was about to do.

Q · 05 How is this different from your disabled aircraft recovery kit?

Different event, different frequency, different design driver — even though both end up moving an aeroplane. The site's disabled aircraft recovery kit exists for the day something has gone wrong: an aircraft is off the paved surface, or sitting on a collapsed gear, or otherwise unable to roll, and it must be lifted, supported and shifted so the runway can reopen. That job is rare, urgent, improvised around whatever the situation presents, and dominated by lifting and supporting an article that will not cooperate — bags, jacks, spreader equipment, slings, and a lot of engineering judgement applied under time pressure. This equipment is the opposite in every dimension. The aircraft is serviceable, sitting on its own wheels, and the movement is entirely routine — it may happen dozens of times a day at a busy flight line. That makes the design drivers speed of attachment, fleet coverage through the right heads, repeatability, and protecting a gear that is going to be towed thousands of times over its life. A recovery kit is engineered for a bad day; a towbar is engineered for ten thousand ordinary ones. The two are complementary and belong to the same family — both sit inside the site's mechanical ground support equipment range alongside access ladders and passenger steps — but they should never be specified against each other.

Q · 06 What do you build, what is bought in — and what is claimed?

Divided honestly. What Neometrix provides: the beam and its shear protection — structure, the sacrificial element rated below the gear's towing limit, over-load indication, and stowage for spare pins on the bar itself; the head and adapter sets, engineered per aircraft type for fitting geometry, pin, tow height and permitted articulation, and specified by naming the types covered; the castors, folding leg and lifting handle that let one person position a heavy bar; on a tug, the nosewheel cradle, clamping and lift that take the nose weight; the electric drive and braking, sized to stop the mass on a wet surface rather than to match the pull; the steering-angle limits and interlocks that must be enforced rather than merely displayed, since on a towbarless tug they are the only remaining protection; proof load testing and acceptance test procedures that demonstrate the shear rating instead of asserting it; and installation, commissioning, documentation, operator training, spares and AMC — including build to the customer's own specification, which is how requirements of this class are framed. What is bought-in certified: drives, batteries, sensors and control hardware — proprietary products of established makers, integrated rather than imitated. What is the customer's: the aircraft types to be moved, their tow fittings, and the approved towing and steering limits published for each. And the record, stated plainly: equipment of this class has been quoted across aircraft towbar and towbarless tug requirements for defence and aerospace operators. No delivered aircraft towbar or towbarless tug is claimed; the class is engineered to order, around the fleet it has to move.

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The ground support family from Neometrix.

The ordinary day, the bad day, and the rest of the apron.

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Disabled Aircraft Recovery Kit

Moving an aircraft that cannot roll — rare, urgent, and dominated by lifting.

↗ The apron

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The wider range this belongs to.

Browse all Neometrix product lines.

Get a quotation

Send the aircraft types
and their towing limits.

The projects desk replies within two working days with a clause-by-clause compliance matrix and a budgetary quotation. Write to [email protected] or use the form.

Enquire — towbars & tugs Capability sheet (PDF) +91 7777 876 876

ISO 9001 / 14001 ENGINEERED TO ORDER — AIRCRAFT TOWBARS & TOWBARLESS TUGS THE TOWBAR IS A FUSE · UNIVERSAL IN THE BEAM, NEVER THE HEAD · JUDGED ON STOPPING, NOT PULLING ENGINEERED IN NOIDA · INDIA

A towbar has to move a hundred tonnes and break before the nose gear does.

Everything else is built to survive. This is built to break.

The pin goes first

Changed in the open air

Universal in the beam

Attach, move, protect, stop.

Beam & Shear Protection

Head & Adapters

Wheels or Cradle

Drive, Braking & Limits

Reference equipment, built to the fleet.

Where aircraft towing goes wrong

Four ways to move an aeroplane.

Conventional Per-Type Towbars

Universal Adjustable Towbars

Electric Towbarless Tugs

Remote-Controlled Hangar Tugs

Wherever an aircraft has to be moved without flying.

Common questions.

The ground support family from Neometrix.

Disabled Aircraft Recovery Kit

Access Ladders & Passenger Steps

Mechanical Ground Support Equipment

Send the aircraft types
and their towing limits.

Similar Products

Share This Page

A towbar has to move a hundred tonnes and break before the nose gear does.

Everything else is built to survive. This is built to break.

The pin goes first

Changed in the open air

Universal in the beam

Attach, move, protect, stop.

Beam & Shear Protection

Head & Adapters

Wheels or Cradle

Drive, Braking & Limits

Reference equipment, built to the fleet.

Where aircraft towing goes wrong

Four ways to move an aeroplane.

Conventional Per-Type Towbars

Universal Adjustable Towbars

Electric Towbarless Tugs

Remote-Controlled Hangar Tugs

Wherever an aircraft has to be moved without flying.

Common questions.

The ground support family from Neometrix.

Disabled Aircraft Recovery Kit

Access Ladders & Passenger Steps

Mechanical Ground Support Equipment

Send the aircraft typesand their towing limits.

Similar Products

Share This Page

Send the aircraft types
and their towing limits.