Video: Ground handlers manually push back a 747

The closure of many countries air space and the general lack of demand has led to the cancellation of a number of flights from all corners of the world. Because of this many countries are operating charter or special flights to bring their stranded citizens back home.

Air India and the India air force operated multiple flights to China, Iran, Italy, etc to bring stranded Indian’s back home. Lufthansa sent an Airbus A380 to New Delhi to collect its citizens. And the list goes on.

Wamos Air is a Spanish charter company that operated a Boeing 747-400 (EC-KXN) to South America on Thursday to presumably carry stranded Spanish nationals back to Madrid.

The aircraft flew from Madrid to Guatemala City on Thursday (26th March). The next day it flew from Guatemala City to San Salvador to San Pedro Sula back to Madrid.

Image copyright GCMap.com

While this wouldn’t count as particularly special – What made it stand out is a video of the aircraft San Pedro Sula being manually pushed back by ground handlers. Instead of a push back tug, there are people at each of the wheels of the aircraft pushing it back.

My initial thoughts after watching the video are that the airport may not have a suitable push back tug – but it does receive regular service from an Amerijet 767 and Air Europa 787. However, a fully loaded 747 would be a lot heavier than either of those. Or maybe they didn’t have a suitable towbar?

What do you think was the reason for this unique pushback?

About Vedant Agarwal

A frequent flyer for both work and pleasure - Vedant has held elite status on many of the major alliances and airlines. Also an avid aviation photographer, his pictures have been published in and on the covers of many international publications.

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