Taxying

Our aircraft is parked into wind. We pull back on the yoke to lighten the load on the nose wheel and push the throttle forward until we start to move. More checks now. Do the brakes work? We throttle back and try them, repeating for both left hand and right hand control positions. Now we park into wind for the power checks. First we check that oil pressure and temperature are OK. Next set 1700 rpm and make sure these remain within limits and another check on the magnetos before making sure the engine does not quit when we set it to idle.

Now we are almost ready. We make a final check that all switches are set correctly, the flaps are up, mixture rich and carburettor heat off and another quick check to see the controls move correctly as we pull back for the eleva­tors and turn the wheel for the ailerons. Now, at last, we can taxi to the holding point on the runway. As we taxi we position the ailerons to keep the into-wind wing down and the elevators set to reduce the load on the nose wheel as much as possible. At the holding point we stop to tell the tower that we are about to line up on runway 22L, look for any aircraft on the approach, release the brakes and line up on the runway centre line.