AERIAL WORK 30

Some of the popular types of LTAs used today are: • LighterThanAir — Tailor-made hot air balloons • MicroFlight Inc. — eBlimp • Egan Airships Inc. — Plimp Airships Drones Drones are the apprentices of the Aerial Advertising sector. Even though this technology has been around for almost a decade, it is still not used at the same level as manned advertising aircraft because of regulatory and public-perception issues. However, the commercial drone community continues to explore and innovate with unique ways of applying the methods of aerial advertisement to the current capabilities of a drone. The drone Aerial Advertising sector mainly utilises quadcopters and octocopters for banner towing and mobile billboards. Like LTAs, they’re used in special dynamic advertisements, e.g., air-dropping branded products or freebies, plus conducting highperformance choreography swarm light shows – very similar to skywriting but without the oily smoke. Depending on the type of advertising, the leading drone platforms used for such unique dynamic services are: • UVify Inc. — IFO – S • DJI — s1000 Octocopter • CAT UAV — EXO C2-L

The Future of Aerial Advertising Like many other Aerial Work aviation sectors, the future looks very good. With the ever-increasing demand by companies to draw more and more attention to their products and services in an innovative and ‘eye-catching’ way, the need for unique and innovative delivery methods like aerial advertising will continue to be in demand. With new types of technology proliferating every day, the aerial advertising community will for sure improve on traditional methods and introduce new concepts, i.e., more dynamic vs. static marketing. Therefore, it is not ‘out-of-the-realm-ofpossibilities’ that Aerial Advertisement will become part of a virtual ‘real-time’ marketing network vs. just a stand-alone static flying billboard. The Last Ad

As you can see, the answer to the previous questions shows that Aerial Advertising is more than a classic Piper PA-18 Super Cub towing an advertisement banner through the sky. The Aerial Advertising sector of Aerial Work aviation has the power to grab, cost-effectively and through various methods and aircraft, the attention of large and concentrated masses of people in a short period. While Aerial Advertising is not the daily invading of mailboxes with loads of paper advertisements, many advertisers adore it for its potential to ‘Shock & Awe’ people at the right time and place. From small businesses to large corporations, they appreciate the unique approach Aerial Advertisement provides, and love the feedback it draws to their services or products. So, the next time you’re at a sporting event or sun-tanning on a sunny beach and an aircraft slowly flies across your view with a banner, remember that the pilots and aircraft that are advertising are part of a very focused and important part of the global economy and of Aerial Work Aviation. ■

EASA certified

Cessna Wing Strut Mount 172/182 and 206

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What started as a solution to reposition a hobby aircraft for Mr. Hanns Schickling Senior has grown impressively into a worldwide best-in-class for towing aircraft. Hanns developed an all-electrical aid to get his own aircraft in and out of his hangar with very little effort. This tiny helper, called ‘SchleppMAXXE’, quickly attracted attention, so that without further ado the single-piece unit was in full production. Now, 25 years on, the small tug known as the TowFLEXX TF1 is still being built, but TowFLEXX’s core business has evolved significantly.

Widely Adopted

These advantages have now been recognised not only by well-known aircraft manufacturers, such as Bombardier and Boeing for their production facilities, but also by many MROs, FBOs and military forces, such as the US Air Force. The latter uses TowFLEXX equipment worldwide and even takes them along on missions.

Currently, new major developments are about to be introduced to the market. These include a collision avoidance system, an improved NPS (Nosewheel Protection System), expandable battery packs for longer ranges, a new larger tug up to 150 tonnes, and much more.

In addition to the recently completed new office building, production will soon be expanded as well. For customers willing to test, we have set up a pop-up store at Ganderkesee Airport (EDWQ) where all models of the product series can be tested on site on your own aircraft —

Electric Focus

TowFLEXX headquarters in northern Germany is now focused on purely all-electric (no leaking hydraulics!), remote-controlled towing equipment for aircraft with a take-off weight (MTOW) of up to 86,000kg. This is a topic that could not be more relevant, as airports worldwide are converting their grounds support equipment, as well as tugs, to environmentally friendly and sustainable products in order to permanently achieve emission-free operations on the ground.

As if that were not enough, TowFLEXX tugs offer an unbeatable advantage: the unique 360° technology allows the nose-wheel to be always kept straight in the direction of travel, thus avoiding costly damage. Since the tugs can be freely rotated around the nose-wheel, the space in the hangar can be used much more efficiently, so that either additional parking space can be rented out or more aircraft can be serviced at the same time.