A ramp employee reports about continuing radio malfunctions in their super tugs (sts) that prevent d...

Narrative:

In tow with aircraft at spot xx. Call was made to ground tower for super tug xx; spot xx for gate xxa. No response. This was repeated several times; unable to hear response from ground tower. Turned off all lights (beacons; headlights; cradle lights) and still unable to hear ground response for instruction. We contacted super 13 to ask for them to communicate to tower and to communicate their instruction for tow. Super tug xa was able to communicate to ground and relay instructions to us for tow. Radio issues continue to be primary safety concern for those of us on [the aircraft] move team. Several requests have been made to upgrade our system with continued ignored requests. This issue needs to be resolved to give us the proper tools and equipment necessary to do our job safely. We are aware that these issues are ignored in favor of budget concerns; hopefully an accident will not occur before these issues are actually addressed.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A ramp employee reports about continuing radio malfunctions in their Super Tugs (STs) that prevent drivers from hearing Ground Control Tower instructions when towing aircraft. Requests to upgrade their communication radios due to safety concerns have been ignored.

Narrative: In tow with aircraft at Spot XX. Call was made to Ground tower for Super Tug XX; Spot XX for Gate XXa. No response. This was repeated several times; unable to hear response from Ground tower. Turned off all lights (beacons; headlights; cradle lights) and still unable to hear Ground response for instruction. We contacted Super 13 to ask for them to communicate to Tower and to communicate their instruction for tow. Super Tug XA was able to communicate to Ground and relay instructions to us for tow. Radio issues continue to be primary safety concern for those of us on [the aircraft] move team. Several requests have been made to upgrade our system with continued ignored requests. This issue needs to be resolved to give us the proper tools and equipment necessary to do our job safely. We are aware that these issues are ignored in favor of budget concerns; hopefully an accident will not occur before these issues are actually addressed.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1228215
Time
Date	201412
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	No Aircraft
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Component
Aircraft Component	Air/Ground Communication
Person 1
Function	Ramp
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown

A ramp employee reports about continuing radio malfunctions in their super tugs (sts) that prevent drivers from hearing ground control tower instructions when towing aircraft. Requests to upgrade their communication radios due to safety concerns have been ignored.