I will be teaching you how to make your pushback sequence look realistic. I will show you three ways of pushing back. In this scenario, I am pushing back at KLAX from three different locations:
- the back of the terminal
- the front of the terminal
- the side of the terminal
Example 1) The Back of the Terminal
As you can see from this photo, it would be impossible to push back tail left. If we had buildings, you would be pushing back right into the terminal! In order to make this look realistic, you are going to push back tail right going backwards down the terminal taxiway. (shown below)
The only time you should be pushing tail left is only if there is adequate space for your aircraft, but in a realistic scenario, the pushback tug would pull you forward to the engine starting position.
As you can see, I’m pushing back towards the main taxiway. Once you reach closer to the main taxiway, you can now make a turn to tail left or tail right. (shown below)
Here is a real example of a KLM 777 doing this same technique at Amsterdam.
Example 2) The Front of the Terminal
This is once of the most common and simple ways of pushing back from the terminal; the front of it.
All you need to do is push back either tail left or tail right if safe. It’s necessary that you don’t pushback onto a taxiway intersection, so you won’t block other aircraft from going to their runway or taxiing to their gate. (shown below)
Here is a real example of a Southwest 737 using this technique at LAX.
Example 3) The Side of the Terminal
As I said in the previous example, this is one of the most common ways of pushing back. Depending on what she of the terminal you’re on, you can pushback tail left or tail left*. In this picture, I push tail left. (shown below)
At some airports there is a hold short line for you to hold short of before entering the main taxiway. This is where you want to stop your aircraft. It is not recommended that you go on to the main taxiway, so you don’t interrupt other traffic on the taxiway. (shown below)
Once on this hold short, you can now request taxi and go on your way! :)
Here is a real example of a JetBlue E190 using the same technique at Boston.
I hope you guys enjoyed this tutorial and I also hope that you learned something. If you feel like I should add more details, send me a PM! :)
Happy Flying!
