Getting To & From The Runway: How Fast Do Aircraft Taxi?

[@TheRebelOfWot]

Other airlines - taxiing below 30knts, Southwest - I am speed

[@TomYabo-k2b]

I was waiting for the Southwest comment 😂

[@joebaillar]

Southwest is highly entertaining to watch taxi.

[@LegoSM737]

SouthWest: I am speed, faster than lightning, quicker than quick, I am-wheeeeeee

[@HomelanderIsSick]

ATC: Southwest taxi via charlie hold short runway 26 Southwest: We’re already airborne, sir

[@JungleJetAviation06]

Another reason why I love Southwest…went to MDW in May and left LAX at 5am. Taxied around 30mph all the way to 25R and then punched it since there was no one else departing😂.

[@LegoSM737]

Yes! It’s back to old school Simple Flying: Answering the important Avgeek questions! :-)

[@hughofIreland]

Southwest is allergic to the ground. I have to say watching a B747 (now rare) or an A380 slowly taxiing around LAX is a magnificent sight. A slow taxi adds to the majesty of these giants. Way back in the 1980s, before most of you were born, it was truly mesmerizing to see a BA Concorde slowly amble along the taxiway to its gate. Just like a scene from Jurassic Park, people in the terminal would stand up in silence and stare.

[@drdoolittle5724]

Shall never forget 100 passengers leaning hard to the right as the Concorde we were on was taxing out at CGD in '91, all the looks given suggested, 'not a normal speed'!

[@planespottingwithabdullah]

its bittersweet concorde got retired.that air france was concords fault.the concorde was so unreliable,there had to be a backup for the origional flight.for example in the air france,the plane that crashed WAS the backup.the flight got delayed becuase of an issue and the backup didnt have a backup.but at the same time,i love noise from jet engines.my quiet neighborhood could do with some afterburner noise!

[@charlesjay8818]

@@planespottingwithabdullah Leave a gap after the full stop & start the next word with a capital letter Abdul

[@manuthpung0074]

Idk for others, but for SOUTHWEST they taxi at V1 🤣🤣🤣

[@KayAviator]

Some airports have higher taxi speed restrictions like Toronto Pearson that ask pilots to taxi up to 40 knots.

[@rtbrtb_dutchy4183]

I highly doubt this. I’ve never heard controllers ask for a specific taxi speed and I’ve flown in and out of Pearson many times.

[@andrelam9898]

I've landed on the "new" Schiphol Polder runway numerous times... it's definitely the longest drive to the terminal of any other airport I've been on. It might take longer to get to a gate at other super busy airports due to constantly going slow and stopping. Not so with the Polder Baan. My in-laws had a trip to the Netherlands and when they came home, it was the first thing they commented on. You do get a bit of Polder sight seeing. It should be noted that in the middle ages, the area was a large inland lake. Ergo the name Schiphol that translates to "ship hole". They found a lot of sunken ships when they drained the lake. It was big enough to have quickly whip up bad conditions.

[@bizzyizzy5080]

Flew a few times in w klm, looks awesome when passing the traffic underneath but it seemed longer than my flight from the Uk😂😂😂

[@Tom-ih8gr]

Just a little bit of info for the brakes. Other way round, especially for carbon brake fitted aircraft (most…) You want to let the speed increase and then apply a single brake application to bring it back down again rather than taxiing slowly which would ride the brakes. For optimum brake temperature management in an A320 the procedure is to let the speed increase to 30kts, then reduce it in a single application to 10kts, and then allow it to increase back up again, and so on.

[@Antony.Ochieng]

Remember Cathay Pacific Pilots were on the spotlight for taxiing slowly as they are paid chocks out/chocks in 😂

[@Celestial_Arishem]

Yes.

[@Jwellsuhhuh]

True, but it honestly yields a smoother ride and the airline is usually delayed less because of better organization so it makes up for it

[@R160A]

That US outlier is Southwest, isn’t it?

[@mikepowell2776]

I used to be convinced the the Polderbahn runway was actually in Belgium. On one occasion, the flying time on a flight to Bristol was marginally less than the taxiing time at Schiphol.

[@jeffreyinouye-wong8325]

Landed at KIX last week on United I saw during our taxi our plane was holding around 40 knots def one of the fastest taxis I’ve ever experienced

[@PortuguesePirate99]

I have definetly been in airplanes that taxi on multiple occasions over 30mph - honestly feels about 40-45 ish tbh but this is normally on the bigger airports when the plane gets parked far away and shut down in some remote area - Doha and the Bombay airport come to mind and then you gotta take a bus for like 10-15mins after de-boarding. This is always after landing too, sometimes you get on the plane that have been parked in these areas which have been cold and dark start and thats usually when you feel the slow taxi speed of 25ish mph.

[@simonrochester4773]

You forgot to mention the fact that the flexing of the tires during taxi can raise the temperature of the tire, which then effects its strength. Tyres and brakes are very important. It is a pain if you unable to move, but it is bloody dangerous if you can’t STOP. Happy flying and smooth landings to you all.🤔🤔👨‍✈️👨‍✈️

[@marcmcreynolds2827]

I once did a study for an airline which had a taxi distance of up to 25,000 ft with their widebodies at Honolulu. I found that in order to not overheat the tires (meaning elevated-temperature tire carcass strength would not be exceeded even if the taxi was followed by an RTO at V1), the taxi speed had to be limited to about 10 mph (my work was in mph rather than kt -- tire specifications such as speed rating were mph). Of course, no airline is going to go that slow for that long. I also heard a pilot comment in another video that their airline's DC-10s had even experienced tire deflations via fuseplug release if they taxied out to the reef runway and then had to return to the terminal -- just from taxiing at whatever speed it was. My guess is that would be one way to pick out which of the tires had inflation on the low end of the allowable range, since lower pressure equals more deflection and thus more of the heat buildup you spoke of.

[@bretsk2500]

I've been on a few flights out of LAS T1 where the acceleration on the taxiway made me think we were taking off... it's a long way from T1 to 1R/L or 26R/L. We had to have been going close to 50kts during some of the taxi-ing.

[@rtbrtb_dutchy4183]

I bet you were nowhere 50 knots.

[@misterrabell]

Yup, another great topic.

[@Chicken_o7]

When I saw the video title, I knew immediately that the slow Cathay Pacific taxiing would be mentioned 😂

[@NYCLight]

Southwest!

[@nickg9876]

Southwest😂

[@JackJohnson-cm6jk]

There are high speed runway exit taxiways that allow for higher then 30 kts (~50kts)

[@marcmcreynolds2827]

IIRC the design specification is 60 kt, and the angle is 30 degrees from runway centerline. In the mid-1980s I was getting started on a research project looking at whether runway capacity could be increased by having airliners exit the runway at some elevated speed into such exits. But then an L-1011 crashed during landing at DFW, and the FAA quickly diverted research money towards wind shear. Probably just as well. Yes, you can have an aircraft spend less time on the runway if it finishes braking while in the exit, but dynamic operational variables (e.g. weather-related turning friction variability, wake turbulence considerations) probably make the idea impractical.

[@marlinlee39]

Southwest is definitely the outlier. They be taxing quick

[@Soordhin]

Airbusses are equipped with a tiller on both sides as standard. And it is Airbus SOP that each pilot taxies during his or her sector. If airlines deviate from that they do need a specific approval from Airbus and insurers might require slightly higher premiums. That said, on Boeings the tiller on the right side seems to be a customer option that not many airlines choose, more cost, more maintenance and those pesky FOs demand to use it then.

[@umi3017]

Also some airline allow 50kts when backtracking on runway. (while mine still 30)

[@flyLS]

As far as I remember, “brake fans” are available/optional on all Airbus aircraft.

[@planespottingwithabdullah]

but brake fans dont matter.

[@flyLS]

@@planespottingwithabdullah They help a lot, on the A318 for example, do not make a difference, but in the A320 they can help on a turn-around or even after an RTO.

[@planespottingwithabdullah]

@@flyLS are brake fans visible?

[@planespottingwithabdullah]

plus,boeing has extreme thrust producing engines,so extreme reverse thrust

[@flyLS]

@@planespottingwithabdullah yes, yes they are.

[@allensanders5535]

southwest

[@ianstewartorr8455]

Ryan air is also quick

[@planeoldsimp272]

im gonna spirit or southwest

[@MkurugenziMwenyekiti]

I have never been to the US, nor does Southwest doesn't have a service to NBO, and I have never spoken to anyone who's flown them. But I just have this feeling that THEY are the outlier.

[@hamtrak_p42dcamtrak67]

Southwest taxxing at V1:

[@umi3017]

Good to know they can still stop if needed.

[@AutieTortie]

Meet the FOQAs 😂😂😂

[@kevinbarry71]

A couple of times on a 777 at JFK, our Cathay Pacific pilot was really moving. No way it was 30 kn

[@hughofIreland]

14 mph.

[@Inflight777]

Planes🎉🎉

[@cabottaxi]

Drive like hell and you'll soon be there.