If you watched our videos from Airbus’ Innovation Days you will have noticed the comments about eTaxi. Airbus seems to favor the Honeywell/SAFRAN eTaxi solution which uses the main wheels. When asked about this, Airbus says the nose wheels don’t have sufficient purchase or grip. Apparently they don’t there is enough grip.
Well, it turns out that this is only a opinion. One of Airbus’ largest customers is Lufthansa and they experimented with main wheel eTaxi using a solution from Crane and L3. That test must not have been too successful becuase that partnership is no longer working together.
Partnering with DLR (Germany’s NASA), Lufthansa tested a nose wheel solution on a DLR-owned A320. These tests have gone well. So much so, it would seem that Lufthansa appears sympathetic to this approach over the main wheel solution. Take a listen to Joachim Buse, Lufthansa’s VP Aviation Biofuels talking about the airline’s eTaxi tests.
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