Taxi Traps
Tips and techniques for avoiding the pitfalls
BY ROBERT ROSSIER
FLYING IS A CHALLENGING undertaking, but surprisingly the greatest
challenges sometimes come when we’re still on the ground. Even the
process of getting to and from the runway can be wrought with dangers for the unwary pilot.
RATS IN A MAZE
The day we touched down at Saint-Hubert Airport in Montreal, we
thought our troubles were behind us. Our mission that sunny day in
December had been to deliver our flying club’s Cessna 172 to a maintenance facility, where its faded appearance would be rejuvenated
with a sharp new coat of paint. We had negotiated the steadily
increasing overcast, managed a VFR descent beneath the quickly
congealing cloud layer, and even surmounted the confounding communications with the French-speaking controller. All this, only to
find ourselves totally lost on the taxiways.
Our first mistake had been not familiarizing ourselves completely
with the airport diagram. Instead, we had relied on the ground con-
troller to assist us. There’s nothing wrong with asking the ground
controller for “progressive” taxi instructions, but it doesn’t always
work. The mountainous snow banks lining the runways and taxi-
ways not only made it impossible to get our bearings, but also
prevented the ground controller
from seeing us. Despite his best
intentions, he misdirected us
repeatedly, leading us in circles
like rats in a maze looking for a
hidden morsel of cheese.
BLOWING IN THE WIND
If snow banks and French-speaking controllers aren’t enough trouble, windy conditions
will add yet another level of difficulty to the
challenges of getting around safely on the
ground. One windy day in Denver, Colorado,
we watched a Rockwell 100 taxiing in from
landing. The winds had kicked up to 40
