Originally Posted by
Check Airman
At almost all US airlines, that’s standard. Even with a tiller on the right side, the FO does not taxi the aircraft. Only the CA is experienced enough to screw up taxi instructions.
Years ago at Pan Am most of the FO's were type-rated and taxied on aircraft with tillers on both sides like the A310, 747 and even some 727's I think. When American ordered their A300-600's they were spec'ed with the right hand tiller removed since they didn't allow the FO's to taxi.
Originally Posted by
hans brinker
I upgraded having almost no taxi experience, got less than 10 sectors of OE/line training, and on my first trip as a captain flew with an FO with less than 200 hours in the aircraft. Don't think he would have been ready if I had headed for the grass! (I wasn't worried because I had close to a decade in the left seat, but we were upgrading people with very little relevant PIC time). Learning how to do everything with a more experienced pilot in the left seat next to you makes more sense than trying to learn with a newbie on your right. The whole argument that you should be experienced in everything by the time you upgrade really doesn't apply if no-one lets FOs taxi or reject.....
I feel your pain. When I upgraded I had already taxied from the right seat with two other airlines but was rusty. The IOE guy was big on shutting down an engine after cooldown to save gas on the ETOPS twin. I was not at all comfortable with swinging the plane around on a crowded ramp only to find that the gate was on the wrong side of the shut down motor. I've seen the Bob Hoover act where the captain shuts down the second engine on a twin rolling into the blocks only to get stopped short of the gate for a stray baggage cart.