Lear60man, Yeah, if you get back in May/June and want to take the Eagle for a spin, let me know. It's literally a 2 min walk from FSI. You still flying N269HM? Pre buy on my aircraft? Sounds interesting.
It's the PIC's fault. He for some reason doesn't know how to taxi and make turns on a small taxiway. maybe he wasn't trained or maybe the last AC he flew was a Cessna 150.
Lou, PM sent. rcallahan.....I agree it will most likely be the PIC's fault. But.......one of the most challenging parts of corporate flying is going into unfamiliar airports. I know most of the major corporate airports like the back of my hand. But going into say, Rio.....holy cow. Now you have a busy airport combined with HORRIBLE language skills. Last summer the ground control guy in Rio gave us conflicting taxi instructions. We just held our ground until an American pilot told us what he wanted. Narita can be fun for the first timer. Not only do you have airport specific instructions, (taxi from this point to this point.....40 feet away) but there are still 2 houses that the airport had to build around. So you get to wave at the farmer with a 'Down with Narita' sign on his roof. Deer Vally is no problem, huge taxi ways, control tower etc.
The "center line" is for the center of the aircraft. Like Lou I flew large (ie long) aircraft and would always, on a 90 degree turn, put my butt over the grass because I knew the mains where way back (hell even the nose wheels are behind you). This avoids running over a taxi light or sinking the mains into the dirt. Bob
It's the same as turning an 18 wheeler with a 65 ft. trailer, it's the trailing wheels that you have to guide around the turn, not the front. A guy has to understand the geometry of turning a long vehicle but with these big, wide, and long airplanes, it takes a lot of space ahead of the mains. I used to do a lot of turn geometry diagrams for the 747, 767, and 777 and it sometimes takes a lot of real estate. Some airports don't get it right when they design taxi ways. I remember during the war that some B-24 drivers put the main gear in the mud and you should have seen the huge excavation, perforated steel runway planks, tractors, and men with shovels to extract the airplane.
I watched AirForce One do this once with Clinton onboard as a child in my hometown. Oh the memories..
Get stuck like that? I'm gonna have to google that for some pics. Given the amount of planning that goes into AF1 missions I'm sure there were quite a few careers seriously dinged by that.
It wasn't to the same extreme but they did have to bring in a second plane to get him out. http://edition.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/01/28/wheel/ Image Unavailable, Please Login
