Patent ID: 7891609

Claim:
A landing system for reducing a turnaround event time of an aircraft at an airport, comprising: (a) an aircraft having thrust equipment for flight and at least one undercarriage wheel; (b) arriving, departing, and turnaround equipment at said airport; and (c) means for controlling the movements of said aircraft; (d) an external control unit comprising: (i) control means for inputting the required speed and/or direction of said nosewheel; (ii) means for transmitting speed and/or direction information to said self-propelled nosewheel; the apparatus further comprising: (iii) means for receiving speed and/or direction information at said self-propelled nosewheel; and (iv) means for controlling the speed and/or direction of said nosewheel; said system characterized by said undercarriage wheel being self-propelled and able to move said aircraft without the use of said thrust equipment, said system further characterized by said arriving, departing and turnaround equipment positioned in close proximity to said aircraft prior to said turnaround event without risk of damage.