Private Pilot Flight Training and Instruction Flight Training Article Library | Back To 4VFR.COM Taxiing Because of side by side seating the student pilot must be helped to find where to look for putting the nose wheel on the taxiway center line. Move the plane so as to be centered on a line. Have the student seated as usual and from a distance of thirty feet, slowly move in stages toward the aircraft nose. To the student you will be aligned with the center of students yoke. The center line due to parallax goes between the student's legs though some use the inside leg for aiming.. A post solo student might be helped by an instructor some distance ahead and facing the taxiing aircraft giving arm signals. See the AIM for taxiing signals. The most likely aircraft accident occurs while taxiing. Casual taxiing and parking attitudes are preludes to accidents. Taxi scared. It is not possible to taxi too slowly but some compromise with the practical requires a speed equivalent fast walk. Always taxi as though the wind were at thirty knots to acquire expertise in the correct yoke movement. In real windy conditions you will have less than ten seconds to correctly position the controls. Arrive at the run up area so as to allow the engine to face the wind for additional cooling and to allow maximum room for other aircraft. Circumstances such as blowing dust or noise may require that aircraft be facing a specific direction while in the runup area. Remain as far back from the taxiway as possible to allow safe passage of long winged aircraft. More Taxiing Taxiing is flying with the wheels on the ground. There are only two dimensions and you must control direction and speed. You can control the speed with the throttle and the direction with the combination of rudder and brake. Reduce power once you start rolling. The wind effecting the wing and rudder are the imponderables that require anti-instinctive control movements of the yoke. Staying on the yellow lines should give obstacle clearance but watch out anyway. The exception to this is when there is snow/ice on existing tire tracks. Be original, make your own tracks. Taxiing starts once you leave the parking spot after doing the brake check. Taxiing also begins when you cross the hold bar lines on clearing the runway and completing the post-landing checklist. Difficulty controlling taxi direction is indicative of a brake or wind problem. If you are having taxiing difficulty, slow down. Make sharp turns with careful use of a brake-power combination. Do all taxiing that does not involve sharp turns by use of the rudder pedals and not the brakes. Do not ride the brakes. At the first opportunity get a look at their size and you will see why. Hot brakes lose their ability to stop the plane. Clearing the final and BASE should be a part of every takeoff. Monitoring the radio, alone, is not sufficient insurance to be sure that another aircraft will not make your takeoff more thrilling than usual. The POH usually indicates a neutral for head and tail winds and all . For all other winds dive away from quartering winds behind you and climb into any quartering headwinds. In winds less than 20 knots I believe that you are just as well off diving away from any wind behind you and climbing into any kind of head wind. Taxiing hand signals are self evident. When you turn off the magnetos it is a courtesy to show the keys to the line boy in front of the airplane. Reader questioned my following statement: In your Shutdown checklist, there is this entry: "Make a smooth/sharp turns". Why the statement? Most aircraft are parked in rows that require them to be pushed back into their allotted space. At my home field the aircraft are parked in rows. The incompetent pilot swerves far too close to one side of the land and then makes a sweeping turn to face away from his tie-down. Over the year more of our club planes have been damaged by such a procedure than by any other cause. A skilled pilot can make the turn very smoothly with brake and power while keeping the cockpit over the taxi center line. One of the last things a student learns to do well is taxi. 46% of all aircraft damade results from taxiing impact. I am of a nature to believe that everything worthwhile has been invented by a lazy man. This even applies to pre-historic times as well as present day. Why is a computer better than a typewriter? Being able to align an aircraft cleanly into position so that it can be pushed back into its space without a towbar is a skill that pays off during the first rain. At some point in a pilot's flying career he is going to need this skill big time. Better to get the basics early. Written by Gene Whitt Flight Training Article Library | Back To 4VFR.COM