Best Tugs BRAVO 5 User Manual page 23

Critical Cautions
Our tugs do not instantly stop.
feature is to protect your aircraft's landing
gear. Failure to compensate for this soft
stop can cause damage to your aircraft.
"Slowly" is the word to live by when you
are in tight spaces or loading the tug. We
recommend practicing with the tug before
using it on your aircraft to allow familiariza-
tion with this soft stop feature. Exception:
E-Stop stops the tug NOW! An emergency
stop can damage the landing gear and
damage the tug's motor control module.
The "E" in E-stop stands for EMERGENCY.
Chock your mains!
push your aircraft into the hanger wall...
During operation, be aware of your
surroundings.
Never put yourself
between the tug and any object! A tug
capable of pushing thousands of pounds
of aircraft can push you against an obsta-
cle with thousands of pounds of pressure.
There is a risk of serious injury, death, or
dismemberment. Proper operation is your
responsibility.
Best Tugs™ tugs do not have sec-
ondary brakes—the motor/transmission
provides all braking. Your aircraft can roll
freely if your transmission fails. As the op-
erator, it is your responsibility to keep your
aircraft within safe limits. Never move an
aircraft on a slope or environment where
the loss of tug breaking would put you or
your aircraft in danger.
Exceeding the parameters of the tug
can cause future power train failure.
Best Tugs™ tugs load ratings are for hard
flat and level surfaces. Use on a slope
drastically changes those parameters. The
steeper the grade, the more energy it takes
to move your plane—it is as if the plane's
load parameter increased. The transmis-
sion's gears have a superior hardened
surface; a one-time event that exceeds the
tug's parameters can degrade that sur-
This
You don't want to
face—eventually leading to total failure.
Rough surfaces,
increase the rolling resistance of your tires.
The lower your tire pressure, the larger the
tire's contact patch, the more extreme the
tire deflection, resulting in more rolling re-
sistance. It now takes more energy to move
the airplane—which is functionally equiv-
alent (In regards to the loaded weight
charts) to the plane weighing more. Even
a ten percent under-inflation could cause
your load to be over the limit—you have
just damaged the gears. Failure is now a
matter of when—not if.
DC motors heat up from the inside
out. If the casing is hot to your touch, the
internal components are probably red hot.
The larger the aircraft, the more energy
it takes to move that load, causing heat
buildup. Slopes and rough terrain are like
moving a larger aircraft causing more heat
buildup. Moving aircraft long distances
also causes heat buildup. Excessive heat
buildup can damage the tug's motor, dras-
tically reducing the tugs life span. Use Best
Tugs™ tugs intermittently for the best life
span. The larger the tug, with an appropri-
ately smaller than rated load, the longer
a tug can be in continuous usage. If you
must move your aircraft a long-distance,
slow down, or pause now and then (See
Loaded Weight Tables) to allow for heat
dissipation.
Example 1: You have a standard B5 tug you
bought for your Cirrus, and you do your
buddy a favor and move their King Air—
you have just damaged the gears. Failure is
now a matter of when—not if.
Example 2: You used the standard B5 tug
you bought for your Cirrus, and pulled
your Cirrus up a 3-degree slope—you have
just damaged the gears. Failure is now a
matter of when—not if. It would be best if
you had used a tug with a higher rating,
such as grass, can
20