Crane helps plane with final take-off
24 November 2015 by Daniel SearleA Liebherr LR 1600/2 crawler has been used to move an 82t Airbus A-300 aircraft over a fence at Cologne-Bonn airport.
The 'Zero-G' aircraft had reached the end of its service life, and will now be exhibited at a museum.
Challenges of the project, overseen by Riga Mainz, included the limited set-up height of the crane, and the stringent requirements for attaching the load, with only three attachment points on the aircraft offering the required load capacity.
A total of 19t of attachment equipment was used in the lift, including two cross beams and three load spreaders developed by Riga Mainz. The company used a remote-controlled chain hoist to adjust the crane hook over the overall centre of gravity of the load, enabling the aircraft to be lifted at a suitable angle to avoid upthrust in the event of wind and inflows from the front.
The lift took one hour to complete, with a seven-man team turning the 54m-long aircraft, secured on two sides by holding ropes to telescopic loaders, by 180°. The LR 1600/2 then travelled 20m under load on a specially-laid gravel bed.
