Weather in a Ground Handling Simulator: Why Training in Perfect Conditions Is Not Enough
Working on the apron in bad weather is less safe for everyone. Rain makes surfaces slippery, snow hides markings, strong wind moves equipment, and darkness cuts visibility. Experienced operators know this and adjust. But what about someone who is still learning?
Training a new operator in these conditions on a live apron adds even more risk. A trainee, a real tug and a real aircraft on a slippery surface is exactly the combination nobody wants. It is far better to see how a vehicle behaves in a simulator than to learn it through financial loss or injury.
The stakes are real. IATA states that ground handling errors can have serious and costly consequences, including injuries, operational delays, and damage to aircraft and equipment. Its 2022 study estimates that the annual cost of ground damage could double to nearly 10 billion US dollars by 2035 unless preventive action is taken.
In Airport Training Simulator, weather is not decoration. It changes how vehicles behave, and that is exactly why it matters so much for training.
Weather changes the physics, not just the picture
Wheel grip is one of the things that depends most on weather. The force a tug can use to push or brake is limited by how well its wheels hold the ground. Engineering reference tables list typical friction coefficients for rubber tyres of roughly 0.8 to 0.9 on dry asphalt, 0.5 to 0.7 on wet asphalt and about 0.1 on ice.
That is a huge difference. The same tug, the same aircraft and the same manoeuvre can call for a completely different approach in two sets of conditions. Operators need to feel when a vehicle starts to slide, when to brake more gently and when it is better to stop.
In the simulator, weather affects how vehicles behave, so trainees learn these reactions by doing them, not just by reading about them.
What it looks like in real operations
A pilot report published by NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System in December 2025 shows how quickly things can go wrong. NASA publishes these reports without verifying them, but the account is a useful illustration.
During a winter pushback, the tug driver told the captain that the tug had applied its brakes and that the tug and the aircraft were sliding. The aircraft only stopped moving once its parking brake was set. The aircraft could not power back to the gate and had to be towed. The reporter wrote that the tug slipped on ice and hit the aircraft, and that the area they were pushed into had not been cleared of ice before the pushback began.
This is not something anyone can safely practise on a live apron. In a simulator, it can be practised again and again.
Wind changes the plan for the whole shift
Wind affects the entire ramp. ULD CARE, the not-for-profit organisation for aircraft unit load devices, points out that a container on a cargo loader has no vertical restraint. It also notes that a light modern 55 kg AKE container can tip over at 29 knots, and that aircraft have wind limits for opening cargo doors.
Sometimes wind stops handling altogether. On 2 August 2023, gusts reached 50 knots at Jersey Airport, while the operational limit of the ground handler Swissport is 40 knots. The ground crew temporarily stopped all aircraft handling, and passengers on three easyJet flights could not leave their aircraft for around three hours.
A team member who has never seen how wind changes a situation on the apron may judge the risk too late.
De-icing depends on weather more than anything else
In the de-icing module, weather does not just affect comfort. It decides how long the work stays valid. Holdover time, the period for which the fluid protects the aircraft, depends on temperature, the type and intensity of precipitation, and the type of fluid. SKYbrary notes that high wind or jet blast can shorten it further.
So an operator needs to understand that de-icing an aircraft is not the end of the task. The fluid works for a limited time, and that time depends on what is happening in the air around it.
Why learn it in a simulator
You cannot order a snowstorm for Tuesday morning on a real apron. In a simulator you can:
choose the conditions you want to practise, from rain to night to snow,
repeat the same scenario as many times as needed,
give every trainee the same conditions, so results can be compared,
make mistakes without risk to people, equipment or aircraft.
This way trainees meet difficult conditions for the first time in a safe place, not during a live operation.
What it means in practice
In ATS, weather is part of the simulation, not an overlay. It affects how vehicles behave, how the apron looks and how an operation has to be run. Operators learn to react to conditions, not just to follow a checklist.
Because real operations do not wait for perfect weather. Training should not either.
Where ground handling teams learn without the risk.
Want to see it in action? Get in touch and book a demo with us.
Sources: IATA (Ground Damage Report), NASA ASRS CALLBACK (Issue 551, December 2025), ULD CARE (Container Wind Tipping Risk Calculator), Bailiwick Express (2 August 2023), SKYbrary (Holdover Time), NASA Aircraft Icing (Ground Icing), Engineering ToolBox (Friction Coefficients), Techniques de l’Ingénieur (Towing calculations).
