How do pilots turn...

Question

How do pilots turn airliners on the ground when they are either taxi-ing to take off or after landing, is it simple as turning the yoke (control column) left and right like a car? Or do they have another device in the cockpit?

Answer 1

Mustange is wrong.  I have yet to see a plane, big or small, that is steered on the ground with the yoke.  The first reply was right.  On smaller planes, the nose wheel is steered with the feet.  On bigger jets, the pilot steers with the nose wheel tiller.  It's a small wheel on the pilots left side that steers the nose wheel.  He can also steer the nose wheel with the rudder pedals like a small plane can.  However, steering with the rudder pedals only gives you minor corrections for when you're rolling down the runway on takeoff or landing.  The tiller is used for sharper turns at slow speeds.  

Answer 2

The planes have nose wheel steering which is usually accomplished with the yoke. They also use the engine thrust to help them turn. For instance if you want to turn right you speed up the left engines which push the left wing forward helping you to turn right more quickly.

Answer 3

just want to add, on a multiengine aircraft, steering can be done, and or aided by the use of differential thrust, especially on a tailwheel aircraft.  

Answer 4

The yoke is NOT used for steering on the ground.  Not even in the Air Force.

Light aircraft usually have the nose wheel steering coupled with the rudder so that steering on the ground is accomplished with the rudder pedals.

Heavy aircraft have two steering systems for steering on the ground.  There may be a "tiller," which is a small lever that swings right and left to operate the nose wheel steering, or a small horizontal steering wheel that performs the same function.

If there is a steering wheel, it is not called a "tiller."  It is called a "steering wheel."  The tiller or steering wheel is usually located near the Captain's left knee, and may have an electric drive to allow the First Officer to steer using a spring-loaded switch.

Most airliners also have nose wheel steering using the rudder pedals, but it operates only within 5-7 degrees of straight ahead.  Thus the Flight Deck crew keeps the airplane straight on the runway during landing and takeoff rolls by steering with the toes, just like in a Cessna 150, but then, at slow speeds, makes sharper turns by using the tiller or steering wheel.

It sounds more complicated than it is, and it all becomes very natural when you actually sit at the controls.

Answer 5

There are two types of systems used for steering an airplane during taxi operations, neither of which involve using the yoke.

Most small planes have nose wheel steering interconnected with the rudder pedals, so steering on the ground is done with the feet.

Larger planes, including most airliners, use what's called a tiller for nose wheel steering.  The tiller is a separate control from anything used in flight and its only function is for low speed steering on the ground.  The tiller is usually a small wheel or crank just left of the the yoke on the left side of the cockpit.

Some small airplanes (not airliners) don't have any way of directly turning the wheel.  They steer on the ground by using differential braking to control a free castering nose wheel or tail wheel.

Answer 6

You second part has some complications.  I can't speak for airliners, but light aircraft require flight control inputs when taxiing in strong winds to keep the wind from pushing the craft around.  By steering with the rudder, I can hold full left or right yolk into/away from the wind and not impact the direction the aircraft taxis.  

Answer 7

i think they have a different device by the side of the yoke which they use to control the nose wheel. i think it is operated simply by moving the devise left or right. for small planes i think they just use the rudder pedals.

Answer 8

Airplanes are not like cars, and they shouldn't be thought of as such. That kind of thinking is what leads people to believe that the throttle controls speed and the elevator controls altitude when in fact its the opposite.