By Robert N. Rossier, EAA 472091
This piece originally ran in Robert’s Stick and Rudder column in the August 2025 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine.
Of all the phases of flight, the one where we can hardly go wrong might seem to be the taxi. Aside from learning to steer with your feet, there’s really nothing to it, right? While some might suggest that’s the case, the truth is there’s a whole world of woes to be watching out for when our gear is planted firmly on the ground. To avoid any missteps, we need to pay attention to numerous dangers and potential pitfalls. The following tips can help us do just that.
Readiness and Orientation — Safe taxiing begins long before we ever start the engine. Especially at an unfamiliar (or less familiar) airport, an airport diagram can help familiarize us with the general layout of the airport. This helps us better understand clearances and increases our awareness of dangers such as hot spots (locations where heightened risk of confusion and incursions exist).
A cardinal rule is to never type and taxi. Many pilots have gone astray while attempting to program a GPS, tune radios, or tend to other cockpit chores while taxiing the airplane. We don’t have to stray too far to find ourselves tripping over taxi lights and grooming the grass.
Checking flight instruments is essential while we’re still on the ground. Before we taxi, we should set the directional gyro (DG) to the proper magnetic heading. As we start to taxi, verify the DG indicates turns in the proper direction. The magnetic compass should move freely as we make turns on the ground, but it may not immediately indicate the correct heading after completing a turn. Note that if we can’t see well ahead of us while we taxi, some gentle S-turns can help us verify all is clear.
As we make a turn, we can verify that the turn indicator shows a turn in the proper direction with the ball moving to the outside of the turn. Throughout a turn, a properly operating attitude indicator will continuously indicate an upright attitude. As we line up on the departure runway, we can check one more time to ensure the magnetic compass and the DG indicate the proper heading. While we’re at it, let’s make certain we’re on the proper runway.
Maintain Clear Communication — Clear communication is essential while on the ground. Writing down clearances (shorthand is good) and reading them back will help ensure we’ve got the correct information. Still, if we become lost, confused, or disoriented at a towered airport, we can always ask for a progressive taxi.
A critical part of communication is listening to radio calls, so sterile cockpit procedures are critical while taxiing. While it might seem safe or natural to chat with our passengers while taxiing, it is just too easy to become distracted or miss important communication from controllers or other aircraft if we’re engaged in cockpit conversation.
Enforcing a sterile cockpit when taxiing can help ensure we don’t miss any critical communication or become distracted, but we don’t ever want to become misguided. If something doesn’t seem right, question it. Others can make mistakes, so we shouldn’t believe everything we hear.
Know the Signs — Not all communication is verbal. Airport signs and markings are intended to keep us informed and properly oriented. Especially at larger and busier airports, having a mastery of airport signage can be critical. Along with our taxi clearance, observing the signs is critical to ensuring we know where to stop or go. We never want to taxi onto a runway unless we have explicit clearance to do so. Remember to “stop for solid” lines and “dash over dashed” lines.
While we might be wholly familiar with the signage at our home airport, larger and busier airports may have additional signs that are unfamiliar to us. Before operating at a large and busy airport, take the time to review AIM Section 3, Airport Marking Aids and Signs, or AC 150/5340-18H, Standards for Airport Sign Systems.
Stay in Control — Avoiding stalls and spins in the air is critically important, but we don’t want to lose control of our airplane on the ground, either. To that end, always test the brakes at the start of movement and before any point at which brakes may be needed, such as approaching the end of a taxiway. Many pilots have discovered all too late that a brake problem had developed and were unable to avoid a collision, digression, or incursion as a result.
Proper aileron and elevator positions are essential to minimize the potential for wind upsets as we taxi. One way to remember this is to position the ailerons and elevators such as to fly up into a headwind and down and out of a tailwind. We must also exercise caution for prop blast, rotor blast, or jet blast to prevent upsets to our aircraft. This is particularly important when taxiing in the vicinity of (particularly behind) the big guys. Always perform the run-up in an area free from debris that could cause prop damage.
Winter operations pose potential risks on the ground, and these demand special consideration. Winter brings a plethora of hazards including slick surfaces and snow berms, so keep it slow and watch where you go.
Emergencies — Declaring an emergency on the ground doesn’t seem a likely scenario, but if we’re operating at a large airport with lots of large airplanes, it’s something we should consider. We might be tempted to stop the airplane when an emergency arises, but at a large or busy airport, we should announce to ground control before stopping or deviating. Remember that large aircraft might not see us, and could run into us if we make an unexpected stop or turn.
Dangers in the Dark — Night operations bring a few additional considerations, particularly regarding the use of lights and strobes. As a courtesy to landing traffic, keep the strobes (and sometimes our landing/taxi lights) off while waiting for the active runway. At nontowered airports, it’s a good practice to rekey the pilot-controlled lighting just before takeoff to ensure the lights don’t go out at an inopportune moment.
Look Before You Leap — Even if we’ve been cleared for takeoff, and especially when operating at a nontowered airport, check for traffic before taxiing into position for takeoff. In hazy conditions, it can be difficult to spot traffic operating without their landing lights illuminated, and we won’t hear a peep from non-radio-equipped aircraft on final.
Watch for Flags When Parking — Sometimes it’s easy to miss the forest for the trees, and such can be the case after landing and taxiing for parking. We become so engrossed in looking for obstacles and a tiedown that we don’t even see the fellow flagging us in for parking. Don’t hesitate to ask for a frequency for parking, or check for one beforehand as part of the preflight planning process.
Taxiing might seem like a Sunday drive compared to other phases of a flight, but it’s not always as simple as it looks. There’s much more to be aware of and consider than we might expect. By observing the above practices, and staying focused on the ever-changing ground environment, we can avoid most of the pitfalls.
Robert N. Rossier, EAA 472091, has been flying for more than 40 years and has worked as a flight instructor, commercial pilot, chief pilot, and FAA flight check airman.