All About Us...The iTowbot® Builders

The concept of the iTowbot was conceived by necessity. Designer Shannon Hankins, while visiting his father at his hanger, stumbled upon the idea during a group conversation with several of his father's older colleagues and aircraft owners.

The common thread during this hangar session was soon evident and perplexing to Shannon. The pilot group spoke of how they would fly more and enjoy their aircraft more if it wasn't so difficult to get the aircraft out and back in the hangar. Some spoke of how knee replacements hindered them, others of the difficulty of starting their gas-powered tugs, having to go get fresh fuel, how the plugs fouled and needed to be cleaned, and the need for someone else just to help. Complaints ranged from age and physical limits to poor mechanical design.

Shannon recognized the need for something different. But how could something be different when the task appears to be so simple? It wasn't until being trapped in hotel rooms on several layovers out of the country (Shannon flies internationally for a major airline) that Shannon began to sketch his ideas on paper in a computation binder that he carries so often. It had to effortless, electric, rechargeable, robust, and agile.

While back in Tulsa on his days off at his hangar, Shannon consulted with his long-time friend and business partner, Gary Sipes. Gary runs Sipes Aircraft maintenance operation at Tulsa's Jones/Riverside Airport, across the ramp from Shannon. Several months of "conceptual" and "what if" discussion ensued, followed by the proverbial "chalk schematics" on the floor of the hangar.

The two combined their collective A&P/IA experience and began chop-sawing metal, which soon took the shape of what they began to call "Uno." Shannon's wife is a Spanish school teacher so the name stuck when she referenced Shannon's first prototype of what would evolve into the iTowBot.

The following YouTube video shows a prototype iTowBot being tested with a large Cessna Twin.   Click HERE to watch the iTowBot video.

As the design progressed, each attempted to focus on two main points, the welfare of the aircraft and the ease by which the owner/operator could move it. It all began to fall in place. Less is more. Form would follow function. Months of field testing came after that, followed by more revisions. Studying of aircraft nose gear doors, tires, and struts would drive more revisions. Feedback from the field-tested units by their operators would cause more revisions until all of the attributes and handling qualities that Shannon had set out to achieve were accomplished. The problems with starting, pulling, steering, hooking up, not being able to see critical clearances when towing, not damaging the aircraft by turning the nosewheel past its limits, and not exhausting ones self when you are just trying to go out and have some fun, were solved. It was time to start building.

It was only then that the iTowBot was born.

The iTowBot is manufactured at our production facility located at Tulsa's Jones/Riverside Airport. The frames are cut and welded in-house to ensure quality control, and all painting and assembly is accomplished by our experienced mechanics. Only the finest heavy-duty components are used in the construction of each iTowBot. Your new iTowBot will give you many years of dependable service.