Aviation Speak

If you fly at an airport with plenty of taxiways to link runways to other parts of the airport, you might never have heard the term back taxi. But at airports without a lot of taxiways or at those designed for large aircraft with long stretches of runway between taxiway exits, you may have to back taxi to get onto or off of the active runway.

If an air traffic controller tells you to back taxi, he or she is asking you to turn around on the runway and taxi in the opposite direction to the way that you landed (or will take off). If you're getting ready to depart, the controller may need you to back taxi so that you can use the full length of the runway. If you're landing, there may not be a taxiway nearby, and back taxiing may be the best way to get off the runway quickly. At some smaller airports, there may be no taxiways at all on one or both ends of the runway. When that happens, back taxiing may be the only way to get onto and off of the runway.

Don't back taxi at a tower-controlled field without the consent of the controller. When you find that you need to back taxi at a nontowered airport, be sure to announce what you're doing over the appropriate unicom or common traffic advisory frequency. You may be difficult to see, and pilots who are not familiar with the airport may be not realize that landing or departing aircraft must spend time taxiing on the active runway.