Four Critical Factors For Successfully Selecting A Regional Boarding Bridge

Todd Tanner, Boarding Bridge Product Manager, FMC Airport Systems

Regional jet passenger boarding bridges arrived on the scene so quickly that buying them initially required major guesswork.

Now this "flying blind" approach isn’t necessary. In fact, hands-on experience has pinpointed four specific factors critical to choosing regional bridges that can increase profitability, not decrease or eliminate it.

Factor One: Passenger Safety
Passenger safety must be a top priority—for humanitarian reasons and to reduce profit-eating liability risks and lawsuits.

To eliminate tripping hazards as a leading safety concern on regional bridges:

1. The cab floor docked to the aircraft door sill should be self-leveling and adjustable. The steeper the slope down to the aircraft, the more important it becomes to avoid a challenging walk surface.
2. The bridge floor itself should absolutely minimize protruding hinges, cavities, seams, and all other catch points for heels.
3. Cab handrails should help balance passengers while keeping them away from such dangers as heated sensors and tubes on the aircraft fuselage. Handrails extending to (or into) the fuselage ease moving between aircraft and bridge. (For ADA-compliance, handrails also should run the full length of tunnel section transition ramps.)

While rare, ramp fires are another safety issue. If a boarding bridge fails to provide safe egress during one, potential loss of life and financial liability become astronomical. So, like larger bridges, regionals should include reliable independent certification of compliance with NFPA 415 fire test provisions.

Factor Two: Protecting Operators and Service Staff
Regional bridges also must guard against costly work-related injuries.
Some specifics:

1. Designs eliminating need for repetitive placement and removal of floor ramps can reduce operator back and finger injuries.
2. Extra-wide service doors and moveable handrails allow using the landing and door as a convenient carry-on baggage transfer point, eliminating costly baggage elevators.
3. To handle heavy foot traffic and movement of supplies, the transition between the service door landing and bridge tunnel should be smooth and natural. Some designs have a five-inch step here—creating a clear hazard for falls and serious injuries.
4. Sensible maintenance design also reduces potentials for injury. For example, electrical service points and high-voltage cabinets inside the bridge assure dry, warm, and well-lighted working conditions. Locating them outside doesn’t.

Factor Three: Protecting Aircraft
Boarding bridges are a common source of damage to commercial aircraft on the ground, generating claims running to thousands of dollars per incident.

To help prevent aircraft damage, a regional bridge should:

1. Close the final docking gap with mechanically actuated floor pieces, rather than bridge movement.
2. Use adequate sensors to protect the prop and spinner of propeller-driven regionals.
3. Let the operator drive the cab in a straight line, along any selected vector, greatly simplifying docking to the tricky interface points of regional aircraft.
4. Position the operator so they have a clear view of the aircraft during all phases of the docking maneuvers.
5. Have variable speed drive regulated through simple pressure on a joystick.
6. Offer such other features as:

1. close proximity of operator to docking point
2. a lift-away, tip-up docking floor
3. sensing systems to slow the bridge near aircraft and to stop it if it contacts the aircraft floor or handrails
4. diagnostic capability facilitating emergency maintenance.

Factor Four: Protecting Your Investment
Return on investment in a regional bridge depends directly upon quality and duration of performance life. So, it’s absolutely essential to analyze a candidate bridge’s engineered robustness and performance in existing installations.

What are the bridge’s static and dynamic load capacities? Can it carry the extra loads of ground power conversion and preconditioned air units?

Does the bridge realistically have a ten or twenty-year design? Or, do weaknesses suggest it could require premature replacement?

Does the manufacturer have the in-place resources and commitment to back its product over the long term?

Summary
Keeping these four factors in mind will help buyers get the greatest value from their regional bridge purchases. Ignoring them can turn an apparently low price into a nightmare of liability and unanticipated costs. The choice is yours.

For further information, contact:-

Todd Tanner
Boarding Bridge Product Manager
FMC Airport Systems, Jetway
1805 West 2550 South
Ogden, UT 84401 USA
Tel: (801) 627-6600, Fax: (801) 629-3474
Email: tod.tanner@fmcti.com
http://www.jetway.com/