Backtaxi (also known as backtrack) is an
airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...
ground procedure which involves the use of any portion of a
runway
According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concre ...
as a
taxiway
A taxiway is a path for aircraft at an airport connecting runways with aprons, hangars, terminals and other facilities. They mostly have a hard surface such as asphalt or concrete, although smaller general aviation airports sometimes use gravel ...
for an aircraft to
taxi
A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choic ...
in the opposite direction from which it will take off or has landed. The procedure is commonly used at smaller airports and private strips which may not have separate paved taxiways parallel to the runway. It is a higher-risk procedure, as pilots may not see, or hear the radio transmissions from, aircraft taxiing on the runway.
At controlled airports, take-off or landing clearances do not authorize the pilot to reverse course and backtrack along the runway, unless specified by air traffic control. At uncontrolled airports, pilots are recommended to broadcast their intentions while backtracking in the interest of safety; for example, the statement "Entering and backtracking runway 36" would indicate the aircraft is taxiing along a magnetic heading of 180 degrees, against the flow of traffic.
An infamous and rare example of where backtracking was used for large commercial aircraft was the
Tenerife airport disaster
The Tenerife airport disaster occurred on March 27, 1977, when two Boeing 747 passenger jets collided on the runway at Los Rodeos Airport (now Tenerife North Airport) on the Spanish island of Tenerife. The collision occurred when KLM Flight 4 ...
, where two
Boeing 747s at
Tenerife North Airport
Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...
were required to backtaxi in order to position themselves for take-off. The ramps and taxiways were occupied by numerous parked aircraft which had been detoured as a result of a bomb threat at another airport.
References
Aircraft operations
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