It could have been a scene from a Hollywood movie as the car chased after the aeroplane down the runway – a heist gone wrong or the climax of a romantic tale.
The truth, however, is a lot less dramatic than the short video clip posted by Emirates on Twitter, which showed a car seemingly speeding after the A380 down the runway in Dusseldorf, Germany.
“Catch me if you can.” Featuring the Emirates @Airbus A380 and the ‘Follow Me’ car at @dusairport
Video credit: Cargospotter pic.twitter.com/jGQ1V7m45f
— Emirates Airline (@emirates) August 23, 2019
A spokesperson said: “What you see here is that our A380 takes-off and then the airport ‘follow me’ car goes on the runway to carry out a routine inspection. This is an airport ‘follow me’ car. One of its tasks is to frequently check runways / taxiways for debris to enable smooth operations. Airports have such vehicles, used for a variety of functions.”
‘Follow me’ cars can be provided at airports as a convenience or safety, or both.
The Emirates spokesperson added: “Here, the car is not patrolling the flight per se, it is checking the runway. In some cases, they are used to guide aircraft to their parking positions /gates.”
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