There’s an old joke in aircraft design that the perfect engine is the one that burns no fuel and makes no noise. Until they become available, airframers, engine makers, suppliers and novel inventors work feverishly to squeeze every ounce of propulsive and acoustic efficiency out of an aircraft.
Isaiah Cox, CEO of WheelTug, believes he has found a way to deliver that engine, at least for a small part of each trip away from the gate. Cox is banking that little changes can be very green; environmentally and economically friendly.
We’re “saving the engines to do what they do best”, he says.
In Barcelona this morning, Cox announced El Al Israel Airlines will become launch customer for WheelTug’s engineless taxi system, aiming to be in operational service aboard the first of its 14 Next Generation 737 aircraft in the second quarter of 2013 after the technology is certified with an FAA supplemental type certificate (STC).
Photo Credit Andrew W. Sieber
This post was originally published to the internet between 2007 and 2012. Links, images, and embedded media from that era may no longer function as intended.
This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.