The story
Representatives of the airports in Wrocław, Katowice, Kraków and Poznań watched a B737 being lifted during training in Ostrava.
The training was organised by RESQTEC as part of introducing lifting bags for aircraft (for example after an emergency landing with the landing gear up or only partly extended). During the training, lifting a Boeing 737 (aircraft recovery) was practised using the RESQTEC R2S set.
Lifting such a giant calls for extensive technical knowledge, the manufacturer's procedures, an understanding of physics, and great precision and full control throughout the process. For the operation to succeed completely the right tools are essential, and only RESQTEC supplies them — a company of which I have the pleasure of being the general distributor in Poland.
RESQTEC has patented a set of bags secured by a self-locking structure made of special aluminium alloys. As the connected bags are raised, forming towers, the aluminium structure rises automatically, adding stability and protecting the aircraft from dropping should one of the bags burst.
The RESQTEC R2S set uses high-pressure bags of oval construction cut from a single piece of material (no seams, no welding and no gluing), which guarantees much greater strength than competing solutions. In addition, the bags are joined with special threaded connectors, which protects the aircraft against sideways tilting during the lift and completely rules out bags slipping out of the tower.
Lifting a Boeing 737 with the RESQTEC R2S set takes about 40 minutes (about 4–6 hours including setting up the necessary equipment, depending on ground conditions).
The set is easy to use, so it was built quickly. The task was carried out safely. The time needed to remove the aircraft was kept to a minimum.
Watch the video of the Boeing 737 lift at Ostrava airport
Photo report from the training below.
