David Luff writes: > I'm working on getting the small plane to taxi back in after flying a > circuit, so I'd appreciate some input from the pilots from the list on > real-life taxiing. What sort of speeds are typical during taxiing on the > runway, on a large taxiway, on a small taxiway between rows of parked > planes, and when turning corners.
The rule I learned is never taxi faster than you can jog comfortably (10 km/h or about 5kt for me), and usually more slowly, especially at night or in bad weather or gusty winds. The ASI isn't all that useful at low speeds on the ground, so we usually gauge it by power setting: I was told to taxi a 172 at about 1000 RPM, but I end up riding the brakes that way -- I find that 800-900 RPM is more suitable (and even then, I brake more than I'd like to). > What's a typical turn radius at a 90degree junction. That's easy -- follow the yellow line. Seriously, rwy 4/22 at CYOW is 75 ft wide, and we usually backtrack on 04 from taxiway papa to get the full length for takeoff. When I go back right along the edge (say, 5 or 6 feet in), and turn very tightly with a lot of differential braking, I can just bring it onto the centreline without an s-curve and without stopping my forward roll. That's a minimum turning diameter of about 30 feet (15 foot radius) while actually rolling forward -- a 25 foot radius would likely be much more comfortable. You can turn much more tightly if you stop your forward motion and just pivot around one wheel, but that's not good for the plane. > Are major taxiways such as the one parallel to the rwy that > normally seems to be called Alpha 2-way or is the traffic normally > directed one-way on them by ATC depending on the rwy in use? That would be very airport specific, but note that almost every case ends up being a special case. People are always requesting a different runway, a different taxiway, a different intersection takeoff, etc., and ATC is usually pretty obliging. When I taxi on taxiway alpha at CYOW, there is sometimes a big 767 or Airbus heading straight towards me -- I have an instruction to hold short at delta and the big plane will turn onto the main apron before there, so there's not conflict, but it would look quite frightening to a new passenger. So the short answer is to let your AI plane take the shortest route back to parking. Note that it should stop for a while before crossing any runways -- even when you're precleared to cross, you still stop and look. The C172 should also stop to do a runup just before it goes to the hold-short line runway -- that can take 3-5 minutes for a single and longer for a twin. Allow another minute or so for tower clearance before taxiing out for takeoff. > Do most light plane parking spots have a designated direction when > parked or is either way fine? Light planes are almost always parked facing into the prevailing wind, especially if they're out on the field. On the apron in front of our hanger, they're facing any which way. The easiest choice would be to have the AI plane just stop in front of the pumps. All the best, David -- David Megginson, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.megginson.com/ _______________________________________________ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
