With a Passion for Power and Speed
Perfect fit: Australiasian Maxem Aviation and German
Mototok tugs
From Ute Zimmermann *
The Maxem Aviation story is about staff who have a passion for
aviation, power and speed - and who always thrive for excellence. It
all started off in 1979, when Peter Nadilo, founder and owner of the
company became a commercial pilot and started flying small planes
on mineral surveys, mining contracts and coastal surveillance in
Australia. Later on, Peter moved to the Royal Flying Doctor Service of
Australia, Airlines and to then to Corporate Jet Flying. In 2003 he
started his own Corporate Jet Business called Maxem Aviation. Maxem
now employs 12 pilots and 8 office staff; their clients are both private
and business aircraft owners. The company provides fast response
charter service to the private and business sector including medical
evacuations for critically ill patients needing quick pick up and
transport to hospitals. Speed is also of the essence when it comes to
human organ pick up (heart, lung or kidney) at extremely short
notice. Additionally high profile world celebrities who require a very
discreet transport around Australia are also part of the company’s
clients.
Emergency flights with 1 hour notice
Peter: “We currently manage 9 corporate jets from Citation to Falcon
900, and are about to introduce a Global Express. Apart from aircraft
management we also provide an FBO service for itinerant jets that
come and go from Perth international and domestic airports and wish
to use our handling and lounge facilities.” And how much notice would
clients normally give? “Generally, they give us about 2 days notice
before they want to fly, however, especially in the case of medical
emergency flights those jobs can be as short as 1 hour notice and
that, of course, is not negotiable.” A situation which could easily
become rather critical is when there is an emergency flight ahead but
not enough staff to manoeuvre the aircraft out of the hangar the old
fashioned way, with a conventional tow bar tractor moving the jet. In
such a case, safety regulations require that there is always a pilot in
the cockpit ready to apply the brakes in case of an emergency, should
for example, the pin holding the tow bar break during manoeuvring. A
“nonsense-rule”, as Peter puts it, as the pilot has difficulty seeing
what manoeuvres the tug is undertaking or what position it is in. He
can only react to instructions given to him by the wing walker and the
other people supervising the towing manoeuvre and cannot make any
decisions on his own.
More than that…
So this is what triggered Peter to look for an alternative to replace the
existing towbars and tractors. “What really made us think about new
ways of manoeuvring our aircraft was the fact that there was plenty of
room wasted in the hangar with the older style tugs because they
were so big and could not be used in tight spaces. This resulted in the
inefficient use of the hangar from a commercial point of view, since
we could not fit in as many aircraft safely as we had wanted.
Additionally the traditional tugs could not be used for very long
because it was a health hazard and people were being affected from
the exhaust fumes in the hangar”.
Efficiency made in Germany
Peter’s search for an alternative powerful tug with a small foot print
resulted with the Mototok, who he found on the internet and who at
that time had been unknown in Australia. “I realized immediately that
with the small and yet so powerful Mototok tug which was operated
with a remote control, we would no longer need our 10 different tow
bar heads for all the different aircraft. We would also reduce the
human hazard of lifting heavy tow bars into place and the danger of
tow bars and pins breaking. We also gained valuable space in the
hangar by removing the old tow bars and tow heads. Also, operating
the tug with remote control only required one person – forget about
wing walkers and calling out for other staff. Additionally all our staff
were very happy not being subjected to the diesel and petrol fumes in
the hangar and offices. Also the messy job of refuelling the old style
tugs was gone”.
Fastest business decision ever
Peter was convinced after having seen a live demonstration of the
Mototok and made one of his fastest business decisions ever. From
the first contact with the German supplier until the delivery of the first
tug it only took 4 weeks. Did he ever regret that speedy decision?
“Best decision ever” is Peter’s easy answer. Today, he and his staff
are manoeuvring all the aircraft from the small King Airs, Citations to
the large Global/Gulfstreams in the Maxem hangar and around the
tarmac on a daily basis very smoothly.
Individual features combined with overall business results
What has impressed him most? “It is a complete package”, as Peter
puts it. “It is the combination of the individual features which give it a
superior result. Features such as a small footprint and the extremely
powerful towing capabilities. The fact that you can use the tug for a
full 2 days in the hangar without having to recharge. Also that you
very easily and safely hook up aircraft and move them quickly. You
really only need one person to operate the tug which saves on staff
cost without compromising on safety. You don’t suffer from exhaust
emissions any longer, and on the ground there are no more exhaust
or oil stains.”
Return of investment in one year
Substantial savings have been realised within the year with lower staff
cost, lower operating and maintenance cost with the old diesel/petrol.
In the hangar, we now have much more use of the available space,
since our staff can move the Mototok safely under the aircraft wings
and fuselage (including the Citations) and can park the jets much
more precisely and tighter to the hangar walls. Whereas before they
could only fit in 5 corporate jet aircraft, they now can easily and safely
manage 8 or 9 jets at a time with plenty of room to safely move
around the aircraft.
The most stunning experience? “Two, actually. The first was during
very bad weather with an approaching thunderstorm with hail. We
managed to quickly fit 9 corporate aircraft into the hangar in a short
time and prevented major damage to all the aircraft. The aircraft
owners were amazed and grateful that we had been able to help out
quickly even though they were not our customers. In other parts of
the airport, aircraft damages had occurred.”
And the second? “That we had managed a return on our investment of
the Mototok 6500 within the year by being able to sign a new client
for aircraft management and hangar at Maxem”. Today, Maxem is one
of 4 aircraft companies operating the Mototok 6500 tugs in Australia,
with growth plans for more in the future.
From Client to reseller
Anything else? Yes. The fact that shortly after acquiring their first tug,
Maxem decided to become an authorised agent for the German tugs in
Australasian speaks for itself. Thilo Wiers-Keiser, Mototok co-founder
and sales director: “There is hardly a better way to demonstrate
conviction and satisfaction. We are happy that Maxem has become
such a valuable business partner and are enjoying working together.”
* Ute Zimmermann is a freelance journalist based in Wiesbaden /
Germany