There's no ingestion risk if it's propelled by electric power, but there's still FOD risk. As I understand, gates in the US have to be specifically designated for powerbacks because of this risk. No matter the method of creating the thrust, if you can move a plane with it, you can blow some object into a person or the airport windows.
It certainly could be done but it would require changes to airports to accommodate it.
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There's no ingestion risk if it's propelled by electric power, but there's still FOD risk. As I understand, gates in the US have to be specifically designated for powerbacks because of this risk. No matter the method of creating the thrust, if you can move a plane with it, you can blow some object into a person or the airport windows.
It certainly could be done but it would require changes to airports to accommodate it.
Sorry, it might not have been obvious, I meant by mechanically driving a wheel rather than projecting any kind of thrust.
Oh that makes sense. I was thinking in terms of the prop-driven flight discussed above.