That means one is supposed to ask for that or advise that a run-up is needed? I noticed that ATC at large airports don’t suggest a place for doing it. It’s only us little guys who need a little bit of time. ATC may not always be aware of that.
No, just do it at the holding point. There will be the phrase “taxi to holding point A runway 25, advice when ready”. That that “advice when ready” refers to your runup and nav preparation. ATC do not expect you to continue right away from the holding point to the runway, they might ask “ready for an immediate takeoff” if they want to in which case you’d say no (or do the runup while taxiing if you dare). If they line me up right away, then I do the runup on the runway.
Every ATC should know that your stop at the holding point is used to perform certain tasks.
>>> One can sure do some pre take-off items whilst taxying on a long, straight taxiway, but not work through checklists whilst doing so.
That’s what i meant.
Also i do many items from menory and then just check if everything is done at the holding point. So i can concentrate well on taxiing.
I always tell ATC when and where I will need these extra minutes for the run-up. Sometimes (maybe if it’s busy and you want to squeeze yourself between two movements) you may want to do it on the apron (not on the “maneuvering area”), but in this case, at least in Greece, if you have not coordinated this with the handler/marshaller, I would advise to ask the ATC, who will in turn call the airport operation officer, who is responsible for the apron.
How much paperwork? ;-)
As Achim says, the default place is the final runway holding point. This is what ATC expect, unless they tell you otherwise.
It is also the only place where you can turn the plane slightly “off” so you don’t blow away the one behind you. Any time you do a runup on a taxiway while facing straight down the taxiway, there may be somebody behind you.
In the UK, as a result of a particular type of PPL training, there is a nasty habit of people turning their plane into wind for the runup even when there is no or very little wind. So they often end up doing stupid maneuvers to achieve the required 180 and then another 180, and this needs a lot of room which you have to anticipate 
And if a plane is facing “up the back” of another one, it can do a lot of damage even if it is a small one. For example, at my base, I recently had a PA28-161 do the 180 positioning behind me and then when he wound up the power, this smashed my controls against the stops really hard. I have never seen such a violent move from any wind while taxiing even in 35+kt conditions. I told him what I thought of this on the radio and then spoke to his instructor.
Had I been a taildragger, especially a light one, he would have blown me right off the tarmac.
So the best way in nearly all cases is to position oneself, at the holding point, and at an angle to the taxiway so your propwash goes “off the edge” of the taxiway where nobody could be parked at all, never mind parked without being seen by you.
All common sense stuff of course but I got the control linkages inspected after the above incident…
BTW I failed my JAA IR 170A “pre-test test” (a UK FTO moneymaking scam, mostly) partly because I had not turned into wind for the power checks. The wind was about 10kt IIRC. There is no need to turn into a 10kt wind (1400kg TB20) unless your engine is already overheating. I did not fly with that guy again, which complicated matters because – as if often the case – he was the owner of the FTO and was the sole 170A authorised examiner
At my home base, EGPF, there is a run up pan at the FBO, the site is just off the main taxiway, so everything is prepared there. Ready for taxi, all checks complete, let ATC know I will be ready on reaching the hold. At other larger airfields, I will complete the run up at the hold, telling ATC I will call ready for departure. I tend to not do all sorts of dances to get into wind, but if the wind is strong, I will certainly aim to get the nose positioned accordingly. It is an interesting question, because it generally is not covered anywhere, and can lead to some embarrassment as Adam pointed out, however, I would rather endure some embarrassment, than have an issue on climb out, because I did not complete a run up. I suppose it is a subject that comes under, ‘I want to do everything right’, category and not look like an ass.
Remember that ATC is there to assist you, the pilot, and not the other way round. Something not quite right, or you feel pressured, just tell them ‘cannot do’.
Interestingly, as a slight aside, just read a report over breakfast, was in the ABS magazine, May, about a Baron crash, where the pilot lost control. Again, he asked ATC, having missed his first approach in IMC, for. a GPS approach to 36, he received, during the climb out, a GPS for 31. He did not query, but lost it in IMC. The assumption, not quoted in the report, that he tried to reset the GPS, for the 31, got overloaded………should have ignored ATC, got into the hold, and tried to sort from there
I agree with not doing power checks lined up on taxiway. Even forgetting control and dirt issues the risk of FOD for a turbine engine behind you is real. Once had a Seneca do it to me at Oxford. Not sure what was worse the FOD risk or the 15 minutes he took to do 747 style checks.
More precisely than before, this is what I do at large airports:
- Call GND for start-up by handheld radio
- Do everything i can do before taxiing (by checklist on MFD)
- Do the rest of the items while taxiing from memory
At the holding position is mark the stuff I did taxiing “done” on the MFD (to check if i have not forgotten anything) and do only the run-up check there. That takes 30 seconds, also I have to check if ALT 2 is charging above 1600 rpm.
On Greece and Croata i had the Tower trying to make me line up before I was ready. I always answer “not ready, need one more minute” and I never line-up before i am ready.
In many places in the east and south of Europe (at least where there is not a lot of traffic) tower will instruct pilots to lign up on the runway even though he hasn’t yet reported “ready for departure”. In these cases, it is not necessary to say “err, I am not ready yet, will need a couple more minutes at the hold”. Just complete your checks on the runway. When the tower controller tells you to lign up, he knows there is noone scheduled to land or depart in the next few minutes.
It still strikes me as weird to unnecessarily block the runway, but they seem to want it like that.
It still strikes me as weird to unnecessarily block the runway
Yes, that’s why i don’t do that, especially when I know that there’s an approaching a/c. Of course, in a place like Milos it’s ok. In general I stick to my own procedures, because I just don’t want to remember the local special rules … But you are right, usually they don’t let you lie up if there’s landing traffic.
