How does a pilot taxi the 747?

[Guest al2000]

To move my PMDG boeing around the airport taxiways I just push the throttles up a little and taxi at about 25 knots. Is that the way real pilots do it? I heard somewhere that they have a little controller in the cockpit with which they move the aircraft around the taxiways so I am not sure what is correct. Please let me know and also if this is modelled in the PMDG 747 boeing.ThanksAl

[Vic1 3]

they each gave a tiller for steering which is located under the front side window of each pilot respectivly and they do indeed just manually adjust the throttles for the required thrust to acheive taxi speed. I often hear them increase the thrust for sharp turns to compensate for the increased resistance, as i work at heathrowkav

[Vic1 3]

and you can see the animated tillers moving in the PMDG QOTS as in the real world what is unrealistic in the sim is the movement of the rudder surface during tiller opperated taxi turns although i thgink there is still some sort of connection. Perhaps someone else can answer what the connection is between the tiller and the rudder peddals as you see the pilots holding the tiller straight when they perform the rudder controll surface checks . I know that the rudder pedals do provide limited nose weel steering for roll out and the TO roll so may be this is the reason, and the tiller overides the rudder steeringanyone??Kav

[Jack C 8]

I have never heard of the tiller being tied in to the rudder. They are usually are separated.Jack

[Guest fullflapsplease]

The tiller isn't tied into the rudder at all, it's a sophisticated version of power steering like in a car, to be brief.The rudder is controlled by the foot pedals or, of course, the rudder trim switch.Cheers.Mark.

[onurksn 1]

I'm no 747 expert, there are some very qualified Jumbo drivers here, but as far as I know the nose wheel is operated by the tiller up to a certain speed, around 60 knots maybe, above that the rudder will control the aircraft.

[markadeane 272]

Use of the tiller on the takeoff roll should be avoided, the rudder is good for about 7 degress of nosewheel travel either side of center, which is plenty to make any adjustments on the runway. Use of the tiller to turn the nosewheel during t/o could lead to a scenario where - under power - the nosewheel is dragged sideways along the ground.This photo gives you an idea of what I mean, albeit during the landing.http://www.airliners.net/photo/Qantas/Boei...-338/0021016/L/As for general taxi guidelines: ALWAYS keep N1 below 40% until well clear of the terminal area, the thrust from those engines will send baggage carts, people and all manner of debris flying! At heavy weights it takes some time to get rolling from a stationary point. Don't be tempted to give the throttle a big push, set them to 35% N1 and wait, once the engines stabilise the aircraft will start to to roll, it just takes a bit of time!I keep the speed to 10 knots until I leave the ramp, then as per the manual:Straight Taxiway 25 knots45 Degree Turn 15 knots90 Degree Turn 10 knots

[Guest al2000]

Thankyou very much everyone for all your helpful replies.

[Paul_Smith 92]

The tiller controls nose wheel steering up to ~60 knots, giving less and less control as speed increases. The rudder controls nose wheel steering but only a few degrees each side of center. When taxiing, both can turn the nose wheel, but in the sim, (AFAIK) the tiller can not be directly controlled unless you correctly set up a registered version of fsuipc and have the appropriate external controls. As others have mentioned, keep your engine speeds low and be patient. Among other things, you want to avoid having over heated brakes before you even start your take off roll as they would make aborting the take off much, much more dangerous.

[Guest shogun007]

From The company Operations Manual, 747-400 Flight Crew Operations ManualNose Wheel and Body Gear SteeringNose wheel and body gear steering is powered by hydraulic system 1.Primary low speed steering control is provided by a nose wheel steering tiller for each pilot. Limited steering control is available through the rudder pedals. The tillers can turn the nose wheels up to 70 degrees in either direction. A pointer on the tiller assembly shows tiller position relative to the neutral setting. The rudder pedals can be used to turn the nose wheels up to 7 degrees in either direction. Tiller inputs override rudder pedal inputs.Body gear steering operates when the nose wheel steering angle exceeds 20 degrees. This reduces tyre scrubbing and lets the aircraft turn in a minimum radius. Body gear steering is activated when ground speed decreases through 15 knots. As speed increases through 20 knots, the body gear is hydraulically centred and body gear steering is deactivated.Regards Steve Power

[Guest shogun007]

>The tiller controls nose wheel steering up to ~60 knots,>giving less and less control as speed increases. Paul I'm not sure where you got this information from, but the Boeing Operations Manual, and The Boeing Maintenaince Manual make no mention of this at all. Our company Flight Crew Training Manual for the 747-400 gives this advice:Use of the nose wheel steering tiller is not recommended above 30 knots. However, pilots must use caution when using the nose wheel steering tiller above 20 knots to avoid over-controlling the nose wheels resulting in possible loss of directional control. Limited circumstances such as inoperative rudder pedal steering may require the use of the nose wheel steering tiller at low speeds during takeoff and landing when the rudder is not effective. Reference the aircraft Dispatch Deviations Guide (DDG) for more information concerning operation with rudder pedal steering inoperative.Light forward pressure is held on the control column. Keep the aircraft on centreline with rudder pedal steering and rudder. The rudder becomes effective between 40 and 60 knots. Maximum nose wheel steering effectiveness is available when above taxi speeds by using rudder pedal steering.Hope this all makes sense.Regards Steve Power

[3-2-1-Now 126]

All I can say is taxiing the 744 is an art, and some of the slowest driving you'll do next to getting stuck in a traffic jam at rush hour!! :D"Don't taxi on the grass!". ;)Unless I've got a long straight taxi ahead, once I'm off one of the "main" taxiways and on my way to the terminal, I keep the speed at about 10 kts or less. I do the same taxiing out, until I'm on the way to the holding point for the runway.Best regards,Robin.

[Vic1 3]

so i am assuming from all these detailed replies that when i have seen the pilots performing the rudder controll surface checks during the taxi to the active they do indeed have to hold the tiller straight with their hand in order to prevent the nose wheel turning when depressing the rudders, i have seen this in certain flight deck vidoes and guessed that this was the reasonkav

[Vic1 3]

do you know how to set up tiller only no rudder movement with the joystick twist grip with fsuipc while taxing by perhaps the use of a key press to switch between that and the normal setup for takeoff and landing , flight etc? i just want a way of eliminating the rudder controll surfaces moving when steering on the ground with the tillerKav

[Airbrakes 0]

In FS9 I don't think theres a way to do that. They modeled the nose wheel to be linked to the rudder ( I don't know why they did this ).