The art of taxiing

Good taxiing skills require good situational awareness

One of the first things that a budding pilot learns to do, before starting to fly, is to taxi the aircraft. It is a skill sometimes taught and learnt badly.

The Wright Brothers did not learn to taxi, at first. Their first flight was off a rail from a pre-prepared launch point. As aviation developed aircraft used tailskids, some fixed and some, like the Tiger Moth, were steerable. The skid was also used as a brake as early aircraft had no main wheel brakes.