President's Perspective

Taxiing

My primary flight training was accomplished at a towered airport with airline service. I often wondered whether this was a plus or minus. Long runways, complex taxiways, and delays in getting into the air all contributed to at least two-tenths of an hour of taxi time. This burned up valuable dollars that I had put aside for flight training. Once I received my ticket, I was somewhat intimidated by nontowered airports, and 3,000 feet in a Cessna 172 was a short runway. I was almost jealous of my friends who trained at fields with short runways. Were they better equipped to handle the wide variety of general aviation airports? As I flew more I came to be comfortable with nontowered facilities and learned that long runways can be used for short-field practice. But there is another issue that, some 30 years later, makes me glad I learned to fly at a towered airport.

Late last year, I was invited by FAA Administrator Jane Garvey to participate in what she termed a "high-level" meeting with her management team. The meeting was on a topic that AOPA and the AOPA Air Safety Foundation (ASF) have participated in for more years than I would like to acknowledge-runway incursions. The administrator feels that the subject is so critical that she is holding this type of meeting every month to six weeks.

I was shocked by the latest data shared at the FAA meeting, so I turned to the ASF for more analysis. They produced a report that covers all surface deviations by pilots. It showed that entering a runway or taxiway without a clearance accounts for almost two-thirds of all deviations. And they happen during the day, in VFR weather, not at night as I would have expected. Fifty-six percent of these deviations involve single-engine aircraft.

Leading the list of aircraft involved in deviations are Cessna 172s with almost double the errors of Piper Warriors and Archers. But these are training and entry-level aircraft. A majority of the pilots causing these incursions are students, privates pilots, and flight instructors. It happens most frequently to those with less than 100 hours total time or time in type.

We can, as students and seasoned pilots, better prepare for ground operations at all airports, particularly those with towers. In this issue's "Instructor Report" (p. 71), Bruce Landsberg, executive director of ASF, outlines some training suggestions that instructors can give to students who are unfamiliar with towered facilities.

My preflight regime includes studying the airport diagram of any facility I will use. Several commercially available printed guides offer these at a reasonable price, plus more than 2,500 are contained in AOPA's Airport Directory (free to members) or through AOPA Online. I use a copy machine to enlarge airport diagrams and then highlight the area where the FBO or general aviation parking is located.

The forecast winds for the destination airport usually determine which runway will be active. Predicting a touchdown point based on the type of aircraft I am flying, I then determine which taxiway will lead me from the active runway to parking. Unless winds are really a factor, many towers will allow you to request a runway. I always ask for the one with the simplest, shortest taxi route.

Obviously, this doesn't always work. On a recent business trip into busy Dallas-Fort Worth, I requested a runway that would put me right into general aviation parking. Because of heavy arrivals and departures on that runway, I got a crosswind runway several miles from the FBO, and taxied for 20 minutes!

My personal philosophy is that aviation is often more difficult on the ground than it is in the air. Altitude gives you perspective on where you are in relation to where you want to go. Take a night operation at a large towered airport, and from the close-to-the-ground cockpit of today's light airplanes, you lose many of your reference points. Become familiar with taxiway/runway signage and markings. Airports have spent millions of dollars to equip themselves with simple, readable signs. Learn to use them. Anticipate what the controller will ask you to do. Plan your way to and from the active runway before you enter the cockpit.

The FAA meeting ended with a pledge to provide AOPA Online with 334 digitized airport diagrams that will be in place February 24. Also, the FAA pledged more diagrams in the coming months. Surface deviations are not just a general aviation problem, and I would like to see our improvement equal or better than that of the airlines. Pilots are critical in solving the problem.

AOPA will continue to work at the national level to avoid further regulations and more expensive training solutions. Pilots must increase their preparation and awareness when taxiing.