Aircraft electric taxi system design and operation

A method for moving an aircraft equipped with landing gear wheel-mounted electric taxi drive systems during breakaway ground operations and situations requiring a breakaway level of torque to get the aircraft moving and during ground travel operations that do not require a breakaway level of torque to move the aircraft, comprising:

• a. providing an aircraft equipped with landing gear wheel-mounted electric taxi drive systems comprising at least electric drive motors designed and having a size to produce a level of ground travel torque that moves the equipped aircraft during the ground travel operations not requiring a breakaway level of torque when the electric taxi drive system drives the aircraft with nose landing gear wheels maintained in a position parallel to a longitudinal axis of the aircraft, wherein the ground travel operations not requiring a breakaway level of torque comprise most electric taxi drive system-powered ground travel of the equipped aircraft and the breakaway ground operations requiring a breakaway level of torque comprise at least pushback and the equipped aircraft becoming stationary, stalled, and difficult to move;
• b. providing a nose landing gear steering system in the equipped aircraft operable by a pilot to turn the nose landing gear wheels through a range of angles with the longitudinal axis of the aircraft within the range of from about 1 degree to about 90 degrees;
• c. moving the equipped aircraft with the electric taxi drive systems producing the level of ground travel torque and the nose landing gear wheels maintained in the parallel position parallel during ground travel operations requiring the level of ground travel torque;
• d. during a breakaway ground operation or situation requiring a breakaway level of torque, turning the nose landing gear wheels to a specific angle α within the range of angles that produces the breakaway level of torque, operating the electric taxi drive systems, and causing the equipped aircraft to move out of the breakaway ground operation or situation at the breakaway level of torque with the operating electric taxi drive systems and the nose landing gear wheels simultaneously turned to the specific angle α;
• and
• e. turning the nose landing gear wheels of the broken away equipped aircraft from the specific angle α to the parallel position and continuing to move the equipped aircraft during the ground travel operations not requiring the breakaway level of torque with the nose landing gear wheels in the parallel position and the operating electric taxi drive systems producing the ground travel torque.