All-round Talent on the Apron

Perfect timing and absolute precision are required when handling aircraft. A new apron trainer enables ground staff to rehearse all situations in order to avoid damage and accidents.

Played a leading role in the development and deployment of the apron trainer: Klemens Krys of the BER (v. l.), Ann-Christin Küter (HiSERV), Daniel Langner (DEKRA), Roland Ückert, and Thorsten Bienasch (HiSERV). Photo: Sebastian Höhn

The passenger boarding bridge is perfectly positioned at the fuselage. Sunlight is reflected in its white paint and the open outer door invites passengers to board. The only thing missing is a flight attendant at the gangway, with a friendly “Welcome” on their lips. It’s a typical training situation in which the “smart trainer” presents itself at the Main Pier of the new Berlin Airport BER.

The device with the conspicuous orange lettering may be just an airplane dummy, but it’s a very versatile one. As the world’s first apron trainer, it has been used by ground personnel, workshop staff, and the fire department of BER for training purposes since June 2020, initially for six months. Its 13.6-meter length contains all the important docking points of an aircraft on both sides – from cargo door to air starter connection.

Airplane dummy: risk assessment in accordance with EC directives

“The smart trainer is a real all-round talent,” says Daniel Langner, Head of the Aviation Ground Equipment Department at DEKRA. He is responsible for the trainer’s technical monitoring. The trainer has been leased to the BER by HiSERV, a Berlin-based rental company of Ground Service Equipment (GSE). It was built by the company Schrader Fahrzeugbau from North Rhine-Westphalia. “As DEKRA, we were commissioned by the manufacturer to carry out the risk assessment in accordance with EC directives and to propose measures,” says Langner. The issues at stake specifically included the trainer’s tilt stability, its wind load, the brakes, and possible crushing hazards for ground staff. A prototype had previously been tested at Salzburg Airport.

Roland Ückert, Managing Director of HiSERV, explains why the device is likely to be in demand at other airports in the future: “Practical training on this simulator will significantly reduce the risk of damage to aircraft fuselages.” New employees in particular could practice all device simulations without risk. “The insurance costs for damage to aircraft are often enormous and likely to increase significantly due to new aircraft types with composite materials,” says Ückert.

For the Berlin Brandenburg Airport Company, which helped develop and was the smart trainer’s first leaseholder, the device has an enormous advantage in the run-up to the opening of BER: the ground staff can try out new passenger boarding bridges, some of which are designed for the Airbus A380, in peace and quiet. “These bridges, with their many sensors, were not previously available at the old airports in Schönefeld and Tegel,” explains Klemens Krys, BER’s Quality and Process Management Officer. In this way, the trainer also helps to reduce staff anxiety and trains them adequately for daily operations.