Aircraft Taxiing

According to a survey of cab crashes, an annual accident rate of 50 occurs when a pilot throws a slowly flying aircraft into a fixed object or is blown away by the winds. Only a few of the casualties lead to injury, although the statistic also includes the unhappy spirits running into rotating sockets. In order to investigate cab crashes, we ignored everything that occurred from the moment the planes started their take-off run to the moment they exited the taxiway at the end of the airstrip at taxi velocity.

There were no outlandings or loss of controls during arrival, even if the plane fell on a landing area. The constant and gusty breeze represented 18 per cent of the total number of casualties in the three-year timeframe we investigated. Usually the pilots roll to or from the airstrip or wait in the approach area when the aircraft is bogged down by a breeze that pushes it into the scrub, lets a glider fall to the floor or overruns the aircraft.

There are two interesting topics going through this type of accident. Of these, one is that flyers tended to look at winches in the form of crosswinds rather than in the form of real speeds. On the other hand, many drivers do not take care of the air traffic management position when taxiing, even in heavy windy conditions. One frequent casualty related to windy conditions is the arrival of a rider in heavy weather, close to the take-off area.

However, when the rider leaves the airstrip to roll to the slope, a squall will blow the aircraft onto a wing tip or cause a plume of air to travel into the breeze and brush. After that, most flyers give the issue an unanticipated squall, although no significant squalls are recognized by meteorological observatories or witnessed.

Sometimes you wonder why the driver was there at all. Let's take a look at the pilots of a Cessna 172 that was held for take-off from runway 29 at Grand Junction, Colo. There was a rainstorm that passed by four leagues southern of the airfield when the rear of the plane crashed into the sky and overturned the plane and came to a halt.

I was told by the driver that she was keeping the correct steering input at that point. Terms and conditons in most wind-related casualties are not so strict. Within the investigated timeframe the helmsmen were losing flight controls in 8-10 knot winches. This type of accident may appear to be monopolised by Taildragger â" and many of them include tail wheel planes â", but nose wheel planes made up more than half.

It is interesting to note that 25 of the 27 casualties in this class were related to high-decker aircraft. Others were a Stearman double-decker and a Cessna 310. In 18% of the 149 crashes we analysed, wind was the cause of a collision with obstacles on the floor, particularly building structures, masts, railings, lorries and aircraft parking. Removed the accident that happened when the pilots manoeuvred after landings outside the airports, e.g. on a street.

Here, the greatest danger was during overnight operation on black platforms, where the aircraft encountered an invisible target. Many of the disasters occurred in bright light when the pilots either wrongly assessed the wing tip play or concentrated on an obstacle on one side of the aircraft and hit something with the other wing tip.

The fact that parking aircraft also takes its part of the misuse is a frustration for many aircraft operators, as taxiing aircraft either loose flight controls or accidentally hit a support or winglets of an unmanned aircraft. This often leads to a loss record for the aircraft that is not at fault, which can invalidate the aircraft despite expert repairs.

In many cases drivers attributed the insufficient deep awareness to faint or absent runway strips, insufficient familiarity with the airports or bad light. Negotiators, however, often found these allegations empty and accused most crashes of eager drivers of trying to crush through an area of unknown width instead of wait for the tanker to move.

A further frequent mistake was that the drivers rolled off the track and ran into a shield or other obstacle in the gras or down a dam. Gradual taxis from the land surveyor or a small preliminary survey of the distribution of airports would make most of these incidents a story.

Nearly 15 per cent of the overall number of cab crashes were between two aircraft. There were many tail-wheel planes where the pilots did not have enough space to make the necessary turns, or where the pilots looked out on one side when the other side hit another plane.

A number of aircraft participating rolled in opposite direction and tried to manage on a common route. An aircraft that has vacated the airstrip and is awaiting the inspector's approval to travel on another taxiing route or another airstrip is a common situation. In the meantime, another aircraft will land and leave the take-off and landing runways at the same location.

A further frequent occurrence is an aircraft nearing a congested approach area either hitting a holding aircraft while trying to roll past it or not halting in a timely manner and hitting the tail of the holding aircraft with a propeller or wing tip. A number of drivers claim that the accident happened despite all their best endeavours.

The Stearman and the Cessna 182 got entangled when the Stearman was on his take-off run and the Cessna intervened on the take-off track from a rollway. On the lawn the drivers had to drive the cab back from the crossing taxiway/runway to the end of the take-off and landing area. Stearman was in place on the airstrip, awaiting a plane to land and leave the airstrip.

While stopping, the Cessna moved closer to the airport strip on the tarmac, communicated its intention to return the cab, and then called. Analyzing a video tape of the accident showed that the Stearman was followed along the centre line of the take-off and landing strip, albeit slightly to the right of the centre line, and that the Cessna' s right and right wings were grazed over the area.

Others concerned drivers who followed the directions of a soil inspector, only to find that the inspector had made a fault during a crunch in the metals. These are the types of accident that cannot occur when a pilot keeps his eye outside the aircraft. Problems with aircraft arrays, especially undercarriages, accounted for about 11 per cent of cab deaths.

Breaks start a fire when a pilot is driving or trying to roll with the handbrake on. The undercarriage will break down after a heavy land or first contact with the nose wheel. The majority of drivers only do a quick inspection of the wheel. Without this care, there are indications that the chassis is not correct.

You know that if the brakes are locked but the plane is pulling to the side, you will have problems when you land. While taxiing, a jumping or unattended pull to one side of the aircraft indicates that tyre inflation pressures or wheel orientation need to be checked. One flying teacher and several students rolled a baron to park when the pupil started a bend that the teacher thought was too narrow.

It was at this point that they switched off the plane and moved it by pushing it manually to park. Although no aircraft can be subjected to a full mechanic service before each mission, it is essential that the pilot checks the function of the brakes, tyre pressure and general chassis state. The correct land ing-technique â" and meticulous control after the incidental tough land â" will also help to keep the aircraft out of the grass while taxiing.

Too rapid rolling was the cause of about 9 per cent of the investigated crashes. There are several ways in which these incidents occur. A curve at too high a velocity can tilt the aircraft and pull a wing tip. The Cessna 411 was a common crash. Following the landings, the driver tried to make a 130-degree turn onto a runway.

An untypical incident occurred for the driver of a hired Mooney who had the custom of turning off the main power in order to cut down rent costs due to an electrically operated Hobbs counter. How about the pilots who flew a Tai Lorcraft from the right side to get used to this side so they could give lessons?

Following a solo run, he made a fast cab and then apparently realised that the plane was not fitted with breaks on the right side. Following a 150-knot route, the "walking speed" cab to the runway two yards away can certainly put everyone's end urance to the test â", especially when it comes to a husband or wife who' anxious to find a toilet, or an employee who's too slow to meet.

However, with an empty lithium ion batteries, some drivers are willing to try it out â" even if they guess the right way. In three years we found seven cases of pilot supporting their planes by hands, who then went over the loading bay without them. Most of the casualties in this random survey concerned inexperienced persons with manual support aircraft trying to launch power plants fitted with electrical starter systems, such as a Bonanza, Cessna 172 and Ercoupe.

Another two crashes were added to this list just because they fitted into the same general shape â" Humans who got out of the plane while the motor was still on and let the plane do what it wanted. On one occasion, the pilots had forgot to take out the wedges and got out to do the job.

On the other hand, the plane didn't want to roll and the pilots wanted to verify if the wedges were there. It seems in both cases that the reckless pilots have received what they deserve. â " or if you are hoping that the motor will run soon â " make sure that there is a qualified passenger on the aircraft to hold the brake or that the aircraft is safely connected or clamped.

If you want to fly a plane by yourself, get someone with the right skills to show you the way. They' re the guys who get off the plane and go into a rotating column. They are the drivers who launch the motor and hide their head in the dashboard to edit radio or folding maps as the plane winds over the apron.

You roll along the streets and meet masts. You begin to roll with a still bound piano, turn the plane in a turn and grind something near. Another pilots that rolled in thought it crucial to bring a card that had dropped to the ground in front of the right hand driver's chair.

Also, the diversity of different types of accident shows how issues can creep up on you. Aircraft can be blasted from a plane by a Jet Blaster or a props washer. Rolling is usually the least challenging part of a mission, a fact that causes many a pilot to ignore the need for attentiveness or try to perform multiple tasks on the way to the airstrip.

Taxicab crashes demonstrate the saying's old saying that is normally used to describe tail wheel aircraft: "Taxicab crashes (1997-1999)" "Tricks and traps".