Boing 757

[srg]

When taxing the aircraft on the ground how does the pilot steer, ie joystick, pedals or a little wheel.

[andy hughes]

The pilot steers with the flight controls, which alter the direction of the airecraft on the ground as well as in the air. Power is provided by the engines on very low power, and stopping is done with brakes, I think operated by a foot pedal similar to a car,

[sddsddean]

I remember seeing a documentary on 'Horizon' at least 20 years ago, following a DC10 across the Atlantic. On take off they showed the pilot "steering it like a bus down the runway" with a little wheel on the pilots left, which was about 4" diameter.

[sddsddean]

OOPs! Hit the submit button too quick! I suppose in these days of fly-by-wire it may be more common to use the normal controls as Andy says.

[dave_in_cw]

As far as I know, most commercial airliners are steered on the ground by a little beam which looks a bit like a handbrake with a handle on the end, located on the sides of the cockpit. I think its called a "tiller". I'm not sure if the same applies to the 757 which is relatively new.

[KARL]

In conventional aircraft with direct linkage controls, the hand controls are for the wings and tail only (roll via wings and pitch via tail - tilts sideways and up-down respectively). Two foot pedals control left and right movements via the rudder (part of in-flight steering, usually combined with roll), plus they also simultaneously turn the third wheel (nose or tail). The pedals also have an extra function in that the flat surface on which your foot rests is hinged and if you tilt the top forward and down then the wheel brakes are activated independently on each wheel using each pedal (so-called toe-brakes). Air brakes (mostly in flight) are something else as they are activated by extending additional panels into the airstream over the wings. I am not familiar with fly-by-wire except that the joystick takes the place of the hand-controls and possibly sometimes also the pedals to some extent, then, I suspect, in a multi-function way (additional twists or buttons), and no doubt never quite the same way between, say, Boeing and Airbus.