Roll in speed at the gate

[Rhinozherous 90]

Hello! 

I know about the normal speed restrictions for taxi, but is there one for the last few meters to the gate... On the turn from taxiway to the gate.

At which speed the marshaller is not sweating and praying for his live when i taxi in? 

I always tend to loose speed too early when on the last few meters to the stop point. For example with the PMDG NGX and the fslabs Airbrush. 

 

[skelsey 765]

Hi Klaus,

When you park your car, do you look mainly at the speedometer? 😉

No more than a brisk walking pace I would suggest -- judged visually, rather than on the GS indication as if you are staring at that all the time you will almost certainly not be looking where you are going which is the primary focus when you're driving towards a building/people/lots of ground equipment!

If you were going to put a number on it I'd say no more than 5 kt :).

[Rhinozherous 90]

26 minutes ago, skelsey said:

Hi Klaus,

When you park your car, do you look mainly at the speedometer? 😉

No more than a brisk walking pace I would suggest -- judged visually, rather than on the GS indication as if you are staring at that all the time you will almost certainly not be looking where you are going which is the primary focus when you're driving towards a building/people/lots of ground equipment!

If you were going to put a number on it I'd say no more than 5 kt :).

Thats right, not that far from parking a car 😛 Good point! 

[Captain Kevin 586]

I guess cars are a lot closer to the ground, so probably easier to gauge speed versus a 737 or even a 747.

[N2382R 49]

No faster than brisk walking pace. If your wing walkers are running, you're going too fast. If they're standing, you're going too slow. Always keep eyes out of the cockpit and looking at potential hazards as you're parking the aircraft.

[ahsmatt7 1,199]

Do what your comfortable with. I can promise you it wont be too fast for anyone. The car example is perfect. The worst part is when the marshallers go from waving their wands to an 'X' in a single motion no matter how fast your are going. I tend to park "slower" than most people because it's much easier to stop smoothly when they throw up an 'X' in a billionth if a second than when you are coming in at a normal walking speed.

[Captain Kevin 586]

41 minutes ago, N2382R said:

No faster than brisk walking pace. If your wing walkers are running, you're going too fast. If they're standing, you're going too slow. Always keep eyes out of the cockpit and looking at potential hazards as you're parking the aircraft.

Can you even see the wing walkers from the flight deck?

[N2382R 49]

27 minutes ago, Captain Kevin said:

Can you even see the wing walkers from the flight deck?

Depends on the type, but yes.

[jon b 2,047]

In real world ops I normally turn on just under 10kts, 7 ish I guess then reduce to about 5 heading straight onto the gate an/d then further reduce to between 1 and 3 it’s for the last couple of meters, depending on the type of docking system.

some systems like the safe dock will actually start flashing TOO FAST at you if you over cook it. Other systems will give you an amber light in the last couple of meters and that’s your que to reduce down to 1-3 kts, likewise the marshaller will give you a slow signal.

The trick is a slow constant deceleration from a couple of meters out stopping just at the correct point, it’s frustrating when the aircraft stops 50cm short requiring a relatively large injection of thrust to get it moving again followed by and immediate application of breaks normally leading to what’s known as a rocking stop-very sloppy. A good FO will be calling your ground speeds out as you approach the gate allowing you to keep heads out looking at the guidance system and checking for obstructions.

Jon

[Captain Kevin 586]

2 hours ago, jon b said:

The trick is a slow constant deceleration from a couple of meters out stopping just at the correct point, it’s frustrating when the aircraft stops 50cm short requiring a relatively large injection of thrust to get it moving again followed by and immediate application of breaks normally leading to what’s known as a rocking stop-very sloppy.

This is the part I struggle with in the simulator. I always wind up coming to a stop some distance short, so I apply thrust, then end up having to hit the brakes again. This is with the Boeing 747-400.

[dmwalker 603]

15 hours ago, Captain Kevin said:

I always wind up coming to a stop some distance short, so I apply thrust, then end up having to hit the brakes again.

That is my problem, too, and I would like to know how precisely can one control the low speeds in the real aircraft, say 10 knots or less and, particularly, 5 knots or less.

Edited July 6, 2018 by dmwalker

[jon b 2,047]

15 hours ago, Captain Kevin said:

This is the part I struggle with in the simulator. I always wind up coming to a stop some distance short, so I apply thrust, then end up having to hit the brakes again. This is with the Boeing 747-400.

 

11 minutes ago, dmwalker said:

That is my problem, too, and I would like to know how precisely can one control the low speeds in the real aircraft, say 10 knots or less and, particularly, 5 knots or less.

This I’m afraid is one area where the limitations of the desktop simulator are  evident.Maybe VR would help in this I’ve not tried docking with my headset yet, but it’s very hard using the 747-400 on a monitor at least to obtain the required sense of motion and inertia that you rely on in real life to dock precisely.

If it makes you feel any better I have real problems docking my PMDG 747-400 too without switching to an external view , and I’ve been flying the real one for over 20 years!

Taxying in general feels a little strange in large aircraft in P3D to me, the best taxi feel I’ve experienced has been DCS, especially in VR, though yes with smaller aircraft.

That last couple of meters of docking is an acquired skill and pretty much relies on having a good feel for what the aircraft is doing in a seat of the pants sort of way, which is why it’s so tricky in the sim without that sensory feedback. I can’t remember ever having docked on the full motion sim to compare it.

Large aircraft can indeed be controlled very precisely at slow speeds, the pilot monitoring will be calling out ground speeds during the approach to the stand, it’s not unusual to get “2kt, 1kt..zero kts” as you get very close so you’re controlling the speed to less that a KTS accuracy.As I’ve mentioned the trick is not to let it come to a complete stop just short!

cheers

Jon

[Chris Crawford 49]

In real life, you'll be taxiing in at a walking pace and the marshal will keep motioning you to move forward, barely start to bring his arms up... then at the last second, will close his wands and you'll slam on the brakes. So honestly, for a real life operation, just continue at normal walking pace till the last second 😛 

[dmwalker 603]

For a four engine aircraft, would you taxi all the way to the gate using all four engines to control speed or is there a speed below which you would use only the inboard engines?