Simviation Forums

I have always been the world's worst virtual pilot when it comes to taxiing. The yellow guidance lines are followed with pinpoint accuracy by most simmers, and of course real world pilots. When I taxi I usually think I've left turning too late. In reality, I'm actually running over a taxi sign on the grass!! Could someone offer some advice on proper taxiing? Be something to show off to the folks.

PS POSKY's V4 747's are very hard to taxi! You have to literally slow down to a turtle's walking pace to be able to turn, otherwise you slide into the tulips.

If you follow the yellow line but end up in the grass while taking a turn, you're going too fast. Your taxispeed should never be more than 15-20 knots in a straight line. Turn at around 5 knots.

Crash

and you can use differential braking to tighten or loosen a turn, it means braking a single wheel whilst letting the other roll on, i believe F11 and F12 are respectively left and right braking. Im not quite sure because im using my pedals that support this kind of braking.

and you can use differential braking to tighten or loosen a turn, it means braking a single wheel whilst letting the other roll on, i believe F11 and F12 are respectively left and right braking. Im not quite sure because im using my pedals that support this kind of braking.

Differential braking:

Check if this entry is in your aircraft.cfg file...

Differential brakes:

[brakes]
parking_brake = 1               //Parking brake available
toe_brakes_scale = 0.68    //Brake scalar//  I'd try it in  0.02  increments.
differential_braking_scale = 1.0  // rudder activated differential brakes

Paul...Breaking Wind... ...!

...another tip....
Try coming to a standstill before changing direction...(particularly in small aircraft, and especially with Taildraggers!!...)......!

Maybe try adjusting the sensitivity and dead zone on your joystick or yoke.  Sometimes there are overly sensitive...and that makes thing tough.

best,

..................john

It doesn't necessarily mean that he is going too fast in all circumstances though. I know that in my Tupolev Tu-154, the nose wheel is quite a few feet back from where the pilot is sitting in the cockpit, so what I have to do is "lag the turn" when turning. Example: If I am in the cockpit mode, and I have to turn, for example, to the right, then when I see the yellow line making the turn, I keep going straight for a few feet past that, and then line up with the continuation of the taxiway line. It is kind of difficult to explain, but you basically just need to know where YOU are in reference to where your landing gear is.
Another example: If you are out driving on the road, you may see that some buses have to take their turns wide, and would not begin their turn at the same time a small car would, or else their rear wheels would cross over the intersecting lane.

Moral of the story: If it is not speed related, then just practice and get to know where your wheels are in reference to where your sight-line is! Treat it like a bus when turning by delaying the turn a little bit. (Maybe not shooting wide, just delaying the initial turn.)
If it is speed related, just use common sense when turning (don't take it at 20 knots for example), and also make sure that the "flight/ground" dynamics of the aircraft in question are not screwy. I have heard of the extreme sliding problem with the POSKY 747 in the past, so that might be a factor as well.

I agree with SeanTK.

One thing that you must have in mind are the reference points on your cockpit, like the ones you use for level flight.Once you have those speed is going to be the least of your worries.In the sim or real world thats the least of my problems, the center line i use it to know where the taxi way goes and keep me out of grass, but believe me I'm not on the center for sure and there isn't nobody with a ruler to see if you are there or not.
So reference points is you best shot, like flying level use references speed is going to bee the last of your concerns.
Hope it helped 8-)

What I have done when getting the turns wrong is see where I think I should start the turn, pause the sim come outside and see where I really am.

Can be quite different to what I think.  

In the real world pilots found Concorde odd at first with the amount of overshoot of normal position due to the nosewheel being so far back.

Of course they had a training captain telling them where

Garry

Captain Liam, a few points that may help. No two FS aeroplanes are alike on taxiing.

Firstly, a few will move at 'idle' unless you keep the brakes on, but most require a big burst of power to get them moving at all. However, once they ARE moving, ease off most of that power, or you'll find yourself going too fast. Not a bad idea to watch the ASI (yes, it works on the ground too!) and keep things down to below say 20 knots on the straights, ten or so for turns.

Secondly, to turn, you can get differential braking by twisting the joystick and pulling the brake trigger at the same time. Helps to sharpen the turn. Best just to 'on-off' the trigger though, otherwise you'll need more power again.

Thirdly, there are some aeroplanes (the default 777 is a prime example) where, for some reason, applying full rudder 'cancels out' the command and you get no rudder at all. Best in those cases to use only about half the stick travel, you'll find that they turn better that way.

Finally, as so often in FS, best to get some practice with the simpler aeroplanes first, and move on to the more exotic ones later. The default Cessnas taxi fine, you should have no trouble putting them exactly where you want them. Then 'trade up' to the more exotic types.

Another tip here for learning.......

Create another view window in the top corner of the screen and assign this to "spot" view.

Suggestion only but try practise at new Hong Kong airport as it has the best designed and wide taxiways for large jets and you could also use the virtual cockpit on a VASIM 742 (now available here ex-payware) as this is the best v/cockpit available and quite realistic for this type of a/c.

Don't bring this size a/c to a standstill as you will need a lot of excess power to get it back up and could only compound your steerage problem.

Touch button brakes lightly in short pauses for the sim.

There is a taxi speed download at www.projectai.com but I don't know what it does.

Luck and regards
M. Schumacker