What this profile covers
Control of route, speed, clearance, steering, braking, communication, lighting, wing walkers, and equipment during aircraft towing.
Why it matters
Ground and maintenance activities involve many organizations, handovers, vehicles, tools, procedures, and latent conditions before flight begins. For aircraft towing, useful analysis connects the immediate event with exposure, defenses, recurrence, and the wider operating system rather than treating one observation as a final conclusion.
Ramp movement, servicing, loading, de-icing, maintenance execution, and technical-error control.
Understand the subject before interpreting a signal.
In plain language, this profile examines control of route, speed, clearance, steering, braking, communication, lighting, wing walkers, and equipment during aircraft towing.
Build a multi-source picture
- Technical logs, work cards, and handover records
- Ramp, vehicle, servicing, and loading records
- CCTV or ground-surveillance evidence where lawful
- Aircraft data, reports, and physical inspection
Timing, relationships, and recurrence
Relevant recorded context may include engine thrust, brake pressure, autopilot status. Use validated mappings and examine signal relationships over the applicable flight phase.
Do not turn an observation into a conclusion
Aircraft-recorded data usually captures only part of a ground or maintenance sequence; organizational interfaces and physical evidence may be more informative.
Keep controlling material visible
Apply the current approved manuals, procedures, authority requirements, investigation evidence, and validated organizational definitions for any operational decision.
Engine thrust
One or more recorded measures of commanded or produced propulsion; the correct signal depends on engine and aircraft type.
Open parameter guide ↗psi, bar, or %Brake pressure
Hydraulic pressure or command associated with wheel braking; it is not a direct measurement of tyre/runway friction.
Open parameter guide ↗discrete / modeAutopilot status
Engagement and mode states for automatic flight-control systems; useful analysis normally needs more than a single on/off bit.
Open parameter guide ↗From a broad topic to a defensible safety review.
Define
State what aircraft towing means for the aircraft, operation, authority, and organization in scope.
Verify
Confirm the provenance, quality, timing, units, completeness, and limitations of every data source used.
Describe
Reconstruct what happened and quantify relevant exposure before discussing causes or corrective action.
Corroborate
Compare flight data with reports, operational context, technical evidence, and authoritative source material.
Test barriers
Identify which preventive, recovery, and consequence-mitigation controls should have worked and how their performance can be measured.
Assure
Assign proportionate action and verify whether the control and safety performance improve without harmful unintended effects.
Questions before conclusions
- Q1
How is aircraft towing defined for the aircraft, operation, authority, and organization being reviewed?
- Q2
Which precursors, recorded signals, reports, and external data would confirm the event and describe its context?
- Q3
Which preventive, recovery, and consequence-reduction barriers should work, and where could they weaken?
- Q4
What does recurrence, exposure, severity potential, or change over time show before choosing a safety action?
4 connected event profiles
These are terminology and family connections for exploration—not claims that FDM alone can determine the topic.
Excessive taxi speed
Ground speed remains high for the surface, geometry, visibility, traffic, or operator-defined taxi context.
Open FDM profile ↗FDM-008 · Ground & taxiAsymmetric thrust during taxi
A sustained difference between left and right propulsion parameters appears during taxi movement.
Open FDM profile ↗FDM-118 · Systems & warningsElectrical-system warning or degradation
Generator, bus, battery, voltage, frequency, or warning data indicate loss or degradation of electrical supply.
Open FDM profile ↗FDM-119 · Systems & warningsAnti-ice configuration mismatch
Anti-ice or de-ice system state differs from the validated environmental, phase, or procedure context.
Open FDM profile ↗Go deeper into the closest ASIP research guides.
Runway Excursion
Explore overruns and veer-offs as the combined result of approach energy, runway condition, touchdown, deceleration, and directional control.
Open intelligence brief ↗Aircraft SystemsFire and Smoke
View fire safety as detection, containment, checklist action, diversion, evacuation, and rescue barriers.
Open intelligence brief ↗Safety ManagementSafety Management Systems
Connect policy, risk management, assurance, and promotion so hazards are controlled and performance is reviewed over time.
Open intelligence brief ↗12 useful starting points
Original ASIP summaries lead to publisher pages. ASIP does not copy or host the reports.
SAFO 23006 — Review and/or Revision of Aircraft Towing/Ground Handling Procedures for the Safety of the Wing and/or Tail Walkers
Official U.S. Federal Aviation Administration material indexed for ground operations. Open the publisher source for the complete document, scope, and current status.
Open official sourceAnnex 19 — Safety Management, Third Edition
Annex 19 consolidates ICAO safety-management provisions, including State safety responsibilities, SMS, safety-data collection and processing, and the protection and sharing of safety information.
Open official sourceAnnual Safety Review 2025
EASA's review uses occurrence and accident information to describe performance across aviation domains and to support the European safety-risk-management process.
Open official sourceStatistical Summary of Commercial Jet Airplane Accidents, 1959–2024
Boeing's 56th annual statistical summary organizes commercial-jet accident data using stated definitions and the CAST/ICAO occurrence taxonomy.
Open official sourceIATA Annual Safety Report — 2024
IATA's 61st annual report provides an interactive, method-defined view of commercial aviation accident performance and contributing-factor classifications.
Open official sourceAC 120-92D — Safety Management Systems for Aviation Service Providers
FAA guidance explains performance-based, scalable approaches to integrating safety policy, risk management, assurance, and promotion into aviation organizations.
Open official sourceAC 91-79B — Aircraft Landing Performance and Runway Excursion Mitigation
This FAA circular brings together landing-performance planning, time-of-arrival assessment, RCAM information, and operational practices for reducing runway-excursion risk.
Open official sourceSafety Alert SA-077 — Stabilized Approaches Lead to Safe Landings
The NTSB alert highlights the need to establish and maintain a stabilized approach and to go around when an approach falls outside applicable criteria.
Open official sourceHigh Load Event Reporting
The Airbus Safety First article explains why a pilot report remains central after a suspected high-load event and how recorded reports and analysis tools can support the applicable maintenance process.
Open official sourceSafety Management Manual (Doc 9859), Fourth Edition
ICAO's fourth-edition manual explains how safety data, risk management, assurance, culture, and governance work together in State and service-provider safety management.
Open official sourceGo-Around Decision-Making and Execution Project — Final Report
The Flight Safety Foundation project examines go-around policy compliance, decision biases, operational pressures, and the risks that also need to be managed during go-around execution.
Open official sourceCAP 739 — Flight Data Monitoring, Second Edition
CAP 739 presents FDM as the systematic, proactive use of routine digital flight data within a non-punitive, just safety culture.
Open official sourceCommon Taxonomy Team
International work on common aviation occurrence categories and definitions for consistent reporting and analysis.
Open referenceSafety Risk Management
European safety-risk process connecting data, safety issues, risk portfolios, priorities, and safety action.
Open referenceAnnual programmes and reports
Annual safety reviews and risk portfolios used to identify key risk areas, safety issues, and emerging issues.
Open referenceEuropean Plan for Aviation Safety 2025
A broad evidence-based portfolio showing the scale and connected nature of current aviation safety issues.
Open referenceOperational issues index
A practical discovery index for operational safety subjects; official authority and manufacturer sources remain controlling where applicable.
Open reference