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Best Tugs Alpha


Neshi

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Any body have any experience with the alpha line from best tugs.

Currently own a sidewinder and I find that after a long set of flights I would rather user the Mooney tow bar instead of messing with it.

Thanks Matt--

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13 minutes ago, Neshi said:

Any body have any experience with the alpha line from best tugs.

Currently own a sidewinder and I find that after a long set of flights I would rather user the Mooney tow bar instead of messing with it.

Thanks Matt--

Wow. That seems to be a telling 'non-endorsement' of the sidewinder...

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2 minutes ago, vorlon1 said:

Wow. That seems to be a telling 'non-endorsement' of the sidewinder...


one is portable...  the other, too heavy to lift into the baggage area...

Patey construction technique... powerful, heavy duty, well engineered and tested to destruction...

Depends on what you would like...

:)

Best regards,

-a-

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Just now, carusoam said:


one is portable...  the other, too heavy to lift into the baggage area...

Patey construction technique... powerful, heavy duty, well engineered and tested to destruction...

Depends on what you would like...

:)

Best regards,

-a-

My end goal is something I can use after a day of flying to put the plane to bed.

My normal mission - Depart sometime early in the morning go fix/setup a bunch of clients networks/servers and comeback home sometime late evening.

 

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25 minutes ago, carusoam said:

Are you familiar with Mike and Mark Patey and Draco, Scrappy, and that other race plane?

https://www.besttugs.com

Best regards,

-a-

Yes just asking for anybody with personal experience with it.

Everything looks great in adds and on YouTube.

Willing to take a hit for the team but would rather go in with a recommendation.

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15 hours ago, Neshi said:

Any body have any experience with the alpha line from best tugs.

Currently own a sidewinder and I find that after a long set of flights I would rather user the Mooney tow bar instead of messing with it.

Thanks Matt--

I would be interested in your sidewinder if you decide on a different setup. 

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We have a Best Tug, supplied to us at a discount (mercy flight organization).  It’s been one of the best purchases we’ve ever made!   Support is great, product is great, It moves our Bonanza AND Seneca with ease.   I don’t believe another product would do a better job!

Tom

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I used a Best Tugs Bravo for over a year and it was perfect for moving the Mooney and my hangar mate’s Cirrus up a steep incline to the hangar. The guy in the hangar next door, used the same model to move his Meridian. Very good but pricey.

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  • 4 months later...

Don't mean to fire up an old"-ish" topic but @Neshi did you end up getting the Alpha? A2/A3?

How's the handling with pivot enabled when pushing the a/c? I recently moved into a different hangar which has a couple inches incline up to the hangar and then a small lip. It gets tiring fast to pull it out and push it in over and over to get the plane aligned correctly. The one time I am not a big fan of the Mooney wingspan :lol:

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We have an Alpha for a 252.  Works great. The pivot feature takes some practice. I visualize positioning the pivot arm to the same side as I’d like the tail to go and it works well for me.  It can also move the plane super slowly if desired.  

The other pilot and my mechanic prefer to lock the pivot when pushing. 

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  • 3 years later...

I went with A3 to allow for a fully loaded plane to be moved around without having to worry about weight limits. Works great - esp up the slope to the hangar with full tanks, full baggage and dog inside my mid-body 252 - believe the same as yours when it comes to 2900#s fully loaded.

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Ref the Sidewinder tug being too heavy to put into and out of the baggage compt. At 20 ish pounds I don’t think so, my electric scooter is over 30 I think as a reference.

No doubt it takes up more room than a manual tow bar though, and it does have a Lithium Ion battery to consider, but then so does your phone and Ipad and likely other things too.

Having fake knees and arthritic back and shoulders etc. the hardest part to me is getting the thing into and out of the nose wheel tube. 

If it’s level ground and you can use a regular tow bar without strain then that’s easier. The sidewinder comes into play when it’s uphill or you have a lip to go over or the plane is just too heavy for you to move by hand, or your old like me with a bad back etc.

I knocked up a tow bar out of iron plumbing pipe and used my golf cart initially, but you have much more control with the Sidewinder and can of course feel the steering stops with it when you can’t the golf cart, so I’m very comfortable going all the way to the stops with the Sidewinder where as the golf cart could I believe pretty easily cause damage.

If you want a power something that you can travel with I’m not aware of anything better than a Sidewinder, yet. I think if it were aluminum it would be better, but have no idea how much weight it would save nor how much more it would cost.

If weight is an issue the drill motor I believe is easily removed without tools. I think just spin the clamp loose and unplug it.

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