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5 Answers

Trouble with Taxi

Asked by: 4526 views Student Pilot

I searched for responses on this site and didn't see anything so I must be in the minority… I'm a student pilot and struggling with taxiing in a straight line… I'm zig-zagging all over the place any time I go faster than a "crawl"...and for some reason when stressed I think the right rudder pedal will take me left - and vice versa...(must be from my early days riding my big-wheel in the driveway…).  This is going to present problems for me on takeoff and landing..

How in the world do I train myself to stabilize my taxi operations?

Thanks,

Jeff

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5 Answers



  1. Lucas on Aug 20, 2014

    Dear Jeff first of all what you need to do to taxi in a straight line is focus your vision towards the end of the taxiway rather than close in front of the nose. Lets say there is a tower or some kind of big landmark in the distance which is aligned with the taxiway centerline. keep your focus on that.

    Second to train yourself to not over use the rudder I suggest putting pressure on both legs so when you push on a pedal the other leg is acting as a spring trying to bring the pedals back to the neutral position.

    Let me know if this was helpful.

    Cheers
    Lucas
    http://passfaaexams.com

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  2. Mark Kolber on Aug 20, 2014

    Hard to tell without seeing you in action but Lucas makes an excellent point. Looking too close is the source of many common problems in flying, including taxiing. If you drove a car or rode a bicycle while looking at the ground 3 feet in front of it, you’d be all over the road also. You need the perspective of more distance which makes the “deviations” from center visually both smaller and easier to detect earlier. That makes your corrections smaller and earlier also (this will apply as well to much of flight in the air).

    In this respect, it really is just like driving a car or riding a bike.

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  3. Jeff LeFebvre on Aug 21, 2014

    I’ll be following your recommendations this Friday and Saturday. Thanks for taking the time to advise me! Much appreciated!

    Jeff

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  4. Ron Klutts on Aug 24, 2014

    I equate it to steering a boat, the response can be slow so go easy on the correction to get on centerline and start the opposite rudder before you get there to straighten it out. Sometimes the taxi speed is too slow and that makes the nose gear harder to turn. A taxi speed of slightly faster than walking helps in that regard I think.

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  5. Bernard Goh on Aug 25, 2014

    Don’t over correct. Try just light pressure on the pedals instead of jabbing at it (unless it’s a tailwheel airplane).

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