Airport trivia:How to park an aircraft
How to park an aircraft
When an aircraft moves from the runway to an apron spot and stops, the form in which the aircraft stops with its nose forward under its own power is called the nose-in method. In this case, a marshaller, a guidance staff member, guides the aircraft with a flipboard, which looks like a fan, and stops it in place.
When exiting the spot, the aircraft cannot retreat by itself, so a vehicle called a towing car is used to push the aircraft out onto the taxiway. This method is called the push-out (push-back) method, and is used for medium and large aircraft.
Smaller aircraft park themselves by driving and turning the aircraft with the nose tilted at a 45-degree angle to the terminal building, and when exiting the spot, they also drive under their own power while turning the aircraft. This method is called self-propelled parking.