WheelTug

In a time where economies are down and fuel supplies are being tapped, waste is an evil and efficiency is everything. WheelTug is currently in its design stage, but its ability to cut this waste is already apparent. Major US airlines operate a total of approximately 5.7 million flights a year and each time one lands and takes off, the jet engines are responsible for taxiing the plane around the tarmac from the runway to maintenance to the gate to wherever they load that crappy airline food.

All this transporting comes out to 320 million gallons of fuel that are allowed to just burn like the money they fritter away. If airlines and airforces pay roughly the same price we pay for gas, that’s $1.28 billion we end up paying for one way or another.

But all this preaching is not without purpose. WheelTug aims to completely vanquish this splurge and threat to the world’s pollution levels (CO2 emmissions) by using the plane’s auxiliary power unit to move the plane without the need of engines or external tugs. Eliminating this redundant labor also saves cash and the the elimination of engine noise means better communication between the pilot and ground crew. No engine also saves time in that the crew does not have to waste precious minutes waiting for the engine to cool down before they can begin working on it. After the airlines send over a little of that fuel they’re saving my way they can use the money they save to lower their fares so I don’t have to pay $1,500 for a trip to Peru ever again.