WHY is the FOLLOW ME CAR so IMPORTANT?! Explained by CAPTAIN JOE

dear friends and followers welcome back to my channel and lovely greetings from my former home base stuttgart airport here located in the southern part of germany and journalists ravelin as they would say here in today's video we'll be talking about the car behind me which is not only helpful for pilots who are unfamiliar with the airport layout but also a few other functions you might not be familiar with now famous for its yellow bright orange checkered colors i'm sure every one of you has seen one of these cars at least in pictures or on videos or even in the children's book about airports what is the purpose of this car what equipment does it carry and what does an italian supercar have to do with this follow me in this video and you'll find out in a minute so let's get started well you have to go all the way to the end are you familiar with the airfield at all imagine you're coming in for landing after a long flight and you're looking back on a perfect day upon this point everything went smoothly and you're really looking forward to your hotel bed now the airport you are flying into you're not very familiar with and you know it's pretty busy highly frequent takeoffs and landings lots of traffic on the taxiways and constant communication and frequency changes between multiple ground controller stations in addition to that your captain and you haven't been to this airport in a while and you're quite unfamiliar with it now i'm sure the last thing you want to happen after this almost perfect day is to get lost between tax ways upsetting the ground controller or other pilots because you just turned into the wrong taxiway blocking outbound traffic now in case this really happens a few moments later this car will turn around with flashing lights and all bells and whistles and it will help you out you're lucky you've landed at an airport with a follow me car service so the problem is solved now as i keep mentioning in previous videos good preparation will possibly prevent you from such a mishap in the company i fly for we prepare ourselves using the van tram briefing method we approximately at 80 nautical miles prior top of descent we start the approach briefing including a taxi briefing by using the airport ground charts mentioning the possible runway exits will use the connecting taxiways the existing taxiway limitations such as speed or width which for example the 747-8 or other large aircraft are not allowed to use and we map out the likely route to our parking stand and if we're lucky some airport charts include the information that a follow me car is present or can be expected upon landing by the way how pilots breathe via the vantra method the video right here but keep in mind that in general airports are not required to include a follow me car in their ground vehicle fleet there's more likely an additional service that the airport offers a service that we as pilots are of course super thankful for now one airport well known for providing a follow me car service to nearly every arriving aircraft is dusseldorf airport now in the united states where follow me car would be highly appreciated at airports such as jfk or chicago o'hare these cars are nowhere to be found but every ramp agent has a car doesn't make any sense to me so let's take a closer look at the famous follow me car itself now from the outside it definitely stands out with its black and yellow checkered paint job now that's the primary reason to stand out from all other ground vehicles now on the roof they have a set of antennas to receive data link messages and to be able to communicate on all airport frequencies then the large follow me sign which the driver controls from the dashboard inside and other features you'll see in a minute now some follow me cars have extra bright lights mounted on the roof or at the bonnet to light up the taxiway or runway during night operation inside the car the dashboard with the associated switches the traffic screen to send and receive messages from dispatch and the mentioned radio to listen to the given clearances now besides the standard safety equipment like a fire extinguisher the first aid kit etc the car comes with an extra set of wheel chocks and these handheld ones but the primary purpose for what the follow me car is best known for is of course hence the name follow me so guiding airplanes around the apron and taxiways to or from the active runways if a follow me car is requested upon landing the driver which is also called a martial will be notified by one of the air traffic controllers in the tower either on the separate radio frequency or via data link messaging to his monitor now once he receives and confirms the order he then positions his car where the arriving cockpit crew can see the car best once it exits the runway then monitors the active ground frequency and waits for you to receive your taxi clearance now once you've read back your clearance only then will the driver turn on the beacon and the follow me sign and expects you to keep up with him and match his speed now some of the follow me signs have arrows which flash once the driver uses the indicator signaling the pilot that a turn can be expected any second now some also have a trigger in the handbrake switching the follow me instruction to stop now once the car reaches the final parking stand and the stand is not equipped with a visual docking guidance system or this system fails for whatever reason the marshaller has to guide the airplane to the exact stopping position himself he then swiftly parks his car jumps out of it and places himself onto the parking stand line and then uses the ones or the handheld illuminated beacons instructs the pilots which controls the inputs to make by using special hand signals as there is no radio communication between the martial and the pilot these hand signals are super important but more about that in a future video these cars are also incredibly helpful when low visibility procedures are in force when the visibility is severely reduced down to 150 meters or lower taxing around airports where countless taxiway constructions are active can be super hazardous also business jets or general aviation planes get special follow me car service as their aprons are often on the complete office side of the airport and they have to be navigated through the heavies but besides being very helpful for pilots a follow me car fulfills many other tasks that people aren't really aware of for example they perform safety inspections of the ramp areas and ensure a safe and smooth arrival of the airplanes they also guide construction vehicles along the apron taxiways and runways to the places where they are needed now this guidance is very important since vehicles like other diggers excavators and caterpillars often come from outsourced companies which are clearly not familiar with the airport layout and existing procedures i must not pose any danger to the airport infrastructure or aircraft at any time another task of the follow me car and its driver is to perform a regular runway inspection where he scans the active runway for possible obstacles such as tyre debris metal or plastic parts gravel and potholes that could potentially damage an airplane upon takeoff or landing for example on a recent flight we've hit a few birds during rotation we informed the tower control about our encounter who immediately sent out a follow me car to inspect the runway for dead birds or even worse engine parts that pose an imminent threat to departing and arriving traffic therefore they also keep a close look out for birds that may sort of linger around the runway sidelines and scare them away by flashing their lights and other means now since there are no real regulations on which kind of vehicle an airport has to choose as a follow me car there have been quite some interesting ones out there hanover airport in germany for example used to operate a porsche cayman as one of their follow me cars which was followed by an audi r8 i'm sure the guys were tempted to perform very fast runway inspections in a car like that so from an r8 to mini cooper vw beetles and buses the list is endless here at strzok airport the electrification of their ground vehicle fleet is widely researched and already partly implemented i think it is very likely that the majority of future follow me cars will be electrically powered maybe elon musk has already plans for the fully automated follow me car it's definitely feasible but the craziest follow me car by far has to be the one driving around at bologna airport in italy now since bologna is the home of the famous sports car manufacturer lamborghini the airport's follow me car that operated until early 2020 was a lamborghini huracan with 580 brake horsepower this is just so italian showing off the things they are most proud of and they should i mean how cool is that car i would follow that anytime and speaking of following if you want to see more pictures of myself and my journeys around with the 747 please go over to my instagram account and give me a follow i would highly appreciate that funny fact before we come to the end there's one special case in which the car is following the aircraft rather than the aircraft following the car now the lockheed u2 also known as the dragon lady was an american reconnaissance aircraft which operated throughout the cold war the u2's landing gear consisted of only two wheels which were fitted in line with each other in combination with the limited visibility through the cockpit window upon landing made it difficult for the pilots to anticipate the touchdown therefore a so-called chase car instead of a follow me car was on standby waiting for the aircraft to pass the runway threshold then to accelerate and chase it down the runway now within the car was another youtube pilot who then guided the pilot in the aircraft safely down the ground via radio more or less a human radial timber if you want to say that's it for today if you have any more questions or explanatory notes regarding the follow me car please feel free to use the comment section below thank you very much for your time here's your checklist for today subscribe to my channel check activate the notification bell check follow my instagram account check and perform at touch and go at my website check and don't forget a good pilot is always learning wishing you all the best your calf and joe [Music] you

Channel: Captain Joe

Views: 587,033

Keywords: Follow me Car, how do pilots taxi, airport vehicles, captain joe, captain joe flying, airplanes taxi, airplanes taxiing, how airplanes taxi works, airport ground crew, airport ground crew dancing, airport ground staff job, runway surface inspection, FOD, Lockheed U-2, Dragon lady, airplanes landing, parking position, airport marshaller, signals, stuttgart airport, airplane guidance, follow me car airport, airport services, pilot tutorial, zfnhva, aviation, facts

Id: m6nQkiqrQZU

Length: 11min 53sec (713 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 18 2021