What's your typical taxi speed? (GA)

Gary Ward said:
I drive my car the same way with as little brake as possible.
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I also like to drive my car with as little brake as possible. And with as much throttle as possible.

For example, when approaching a curve I will wait until the last possible moment to brake, then apply braking to the threshold of lockup. I will then trail brake through the initial turn-in as I transition back to the throttle. As the car begins to unwind, I smoothly increase the throttle so that I am at WOT well before the apex.

:devil:
 
Everybody's throwing shade at SWA but the fastest commercial taxi I've ever experienced was two years ago on a United Express (SkyWest) short hop from IAH to VCT. Flight time is usually less than an hour. We had a long taxi from the B terminal out to whatever runway we were assigned and we were going so fast that even the flight attendant made some faces and a comment while she was trying desperately to give the passenger brief. She wasn't even done yet when the flight deck asked her to prepare for departure.

Sure would like to know what bar those guys were in such a hurry to get to....
 
MooneyDriver78 said:
And full throttle? ;-)
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Not so much.
My late friend had small V6 in a 1980s S-10 blazer years ago. He bought it new. When ever I rode in that thing with him he was all gas or all brake. It was the roughest ride. That little engine needed all gas to get it going and he would never just coast.
I borrowed it from him one time and he drove my 454 pick up truck. In the first 15 min of driving it he got a speeding ticket. Can't drive a big block like you do a little V6.
 
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17-20kts. Our runway (and subsequently the taxiway) is in a 'bowl' so it's downhill. Get it just below 20kts and it'll maintain that speed going down the bowl with little or no throttle.
 
M20K said:
Back in my Primary training I was taught to taxi as fast as a brisk WALK, not a jog. I've heard the same thing from multiple CFI(I)s over the years and overheard it a few times with CFIs prepping their Private Candidates for the Checkride... :D
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Just because something is frequently repeated doesn't mean that it is good advice. As has already been posted, that advice came from the early days of aviation and no longer applies to the airplanes we fly today.

MauleSkinner said:
Depends whether I’m following a Southwest or or somebody else.
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That is funnier if you say it as, "Depends on whether I'm following Southwest for American!"

Plano Pilot said:
one day at KDAL. An American Eagle Jetstream 31
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Now that has me interested. I flew AE Jetstreams 1991-1996. During that time, we never flew to DAL. Do you remember the year?

As far as taxi speed, taxi at a speed that is comfortable to the occupants and would allow you to stop with little, or no, damage if you have a brake or steering failure.
 
Initial Fix said:
I actually had an instructor tell me that doing your run up and set radios at the hold short was ok.
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Besides the face plant in your palm.... I hope you actually told him/here that it was NOT.

I used to fly out of FRG, which can be very busy. More than once I would see one of the flight school planes taxi right past the runup area to the old short line. I'd pull up behind them and could tell by the movement the CFI was giving ground instruction at the Hold Short line. I'd have no problem requesting Ground have them cross the runway to the Runup area on the other side and give their instructions there. You could always tell by the response they didn't have a clue it was not a good thing to *park* at the Hold Short line.
 
Larry in TN said:
Now that has me interested. I flew AE Jetstreams 1991-1996. During that time, we never flew to DAL. Do you remember the year?
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It was probably the late 80's or early 90's. My understanding is that they departed DFW and lost the engine and for some reason diverted to KDAL.
 
All these comments about taxiing at "a brisk walking pace" crack me up. Most of us old farts would consider 4 mph a pretty damn brisk walking pace. Even so, that speed would take you about 15 minutes to traverse a 5000' taxiway.

Nobody is taxiing at that slow a speed on a dry, smooth, paved taxiway. That's obviously ridiculous.
 
Plano Pilot said:
It was probably the late 80's or early 90's. My understanding is that they departed DFW and lost the engine and for some reason diverted to KDAL.
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Maybe they were east of DAL when the engine failed so it was closer?

geneseib said:
Fast. Had a tower controller tell me so slow down once. I was the only plane on the field.
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Was taxiing out to 22L at ORD one day. Was on Taxiway V behind an AAL 737 who was taxiing very slowly. We had already been transferred to the tower frequency. Tower called the AAL flight and said something along the lines of, "AAxxx, I know you have a wheels up time but there are people behind you who would like to depart".
 
For me it depends. If I'm taxiing around other aircraft, fuel pumps, whatever, I'm going slow. And if I've just landed and am turning off, I'm going pretty slow. But if I'm back taxiing a runway, on a calm day, I'm going some decent percentage of take off speed. There I just slow down so I don't have any worry of stopping at the end to turn around. Because it's a runway, and I kinda own it at that time, but don't really want to hang out there, either, so why not. And similar if I'm on a long taxiway with a clear path and no chance of someone pulling out in front of me.
 
My instructor said, slow enough to be able to stop if you lose the brakes on one side without wrecking the airplane
 
TylerSC said:
My instructor said, slow enough to be able to stop if you lose the brakes on one side without wrecking the airplane
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:) Did you ask him how long ago he wrecked an airplane after losing brakes on one side?
 
Depends if I am trying to make a commute or not.

Actually, its not up to me. I've flown with captains that range from Mr Magoo to Mario Andretti when it comes to taxi speed. Neither extreme is good.
 
Maybe usually over 10 but under 20 by a bit. Sometimes there are factors, you may need some warmup, if safe, maybe a few checks in the roll. Of course you don’t need to be a ‘speed bump’ for others.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I will acknowledge that I taxi a lot faster than I probably should. It's a habit I'm working on correcting.
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In all fairness, the mighty Traveler handled better at higher taxi speeds. Or at least the brakes appreciated it more.
 
With or without a DPE on board?

My airport has intersecting runways. It’s pretty common to get told to exit onto the other rwy, taxi to the end, then exit that rwy onto a taxiway. I probably hit 20-ish kts on the rwy, but try to keep it around 15 or less on the taxiways. There are too many potential areas for taxi conflicts, so I try to be ready to stop quickly.
 
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