Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

2 Answers

Taxi “lessons” at class C

Asked by: 3988 views Private Pilot

Bought a share in a club at class C.  I'm thinking about starting out with just a  request from ground control to taxi about the airport to get familiar with it.  How about if I ask for "Progressive Taxi"  about and around the airport to get a feel for it. I would do it off peak hours.  (This airport is new to me, the flying itself shouldn't be a problem)    thanks

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

2 Answers



  1. Kris Kortokrax on Jan 04, 2015

    Get a copy of the airport diagram. Become familiar with the layout.
    Look at the airport on Google Earth.

    They are not likely to let you just taxi around. You will need to give them a destination (i.e. Request taxi to runway so and so, or request taxi to an FBO on the other side of the field).

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. Matthew Waugh on Jan 05, 2015

    If you’re going to do this (and I wouldn’t, but to each their own) give the tower a call on the phone beforehand and explain what you want to do and they’ll tell you what time would be best and how to deal with the whole thing. I was based at a Class C airport for a while – it’s AMAZING what you can get done if you just call up and ask and are flexible.

    You can just request taxi to various points (intersections etc. – it wouldn’t have to be from non-movement to non-movement area). Heck if the ground controller wants to play along get them to pick random points to send you to.

    BUT – as I said, I wouldn’t do this. Get a copy of the airport diagram, study it, know the points you’re going to want to go to (runways, hangars, FBOs) and figure out likely routes and then just go and fly. I’m sure your club has a checkout procedure so you’ll have an instructor with you at least the first time. If you’re confused ask for progressive taxi, the controller will help you out.

    If you’re still nervous get a scanner and go and listen to taxi clearances and figure out what you would do if those clearances were given to you.

    It isn’t rocket science – there are a few airports (O’Hare, maybe JFK) where taxi is a confusing mess of insider code words and non-standard procedures – but most airports it’s not as confusing as you think it is.

    +1 Votes Thumb up 1 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.