Versatile vehicles

Flying carpet lands in UK

Platform Sales in the UK has developed a truck mounted scissor lift for use by airlines and aircraft maintenance companies. The Flying Carpet VM25S, shown here mounted on a 3.5t Mercedes Sprinter, offers a maximum working height of 10 m.

Chris Caney, managing director of Platform Sales in Leighton Buzzard, UK, tells AI that the platform meets a demand for a light duty machine that is easily transported around an airport; “Maintenance crews need scissors, but they can't afford to go around at 3 mph, and they aren't allowed to.”

The first two units have been sold jointly to airline Cathay Pacific and aircraft maintenance specialist S & R Technics, and are designed for deployment around the airport for ‘line maintenance' and not for use in hangers. The platform can be used to give access on both wide and narrow bodied jets, including the Boeing B747 and Airbus A300 series.

The Flying Carpet is powered from the vehicle's power take-off unit, or via a remote mounted pump system, and the platform - Platform Sales preferred not to specify which manufacturer supplied the scissor - can be mounted on other carriers, including a Ford Transit or Mitsubishi.

Mr Caney says another version, using an electrically powered vehicle, is also now under development.