Indeed. I have enough trouble towing a caravan or reversing a boat trailer, let alone manoeuvring vehicles of the scale you guys deal with on a daily basis. I am amazed watching movements around the terminals at how accurately those tug drivers seems to be able to get the aircraft into the desired position - most of the time. I wonder if the tug driver thought he was pushing a 777-200 and not a -300?
I can't describe how I back a caravan, but I can do it very accurately. And looking around the caravan park, most people can't. It's just one of those strange perception things.
I would have expected there to be wing walkers, and perhaps someone back near the tail with a radio, so it isn't all up to the driver.
Manoeuvering on the ground can be quite a stressful exercise. In many of the larger aircraft you cannot see the wing tips from the coughpit (767, A380), and in any event trying to judge something at that distance is, at best, difficult. There should be clearance line markings around the airports, but these vary from state to state. Some have accurate ones everywhere, whilst at other places they interfere with the colour of the tarmac, and are absent. Sometimes too, we aren't helped by our fellow aviators, as stopping so as to infringe a clearance line is a game that seems to be played by some airlines as a way of delaying the opposition. One defunct Australian airline was particularly adept at that (i.e. stop well short of holding point markings, so the the tail crosses the clearance line, and that will stop anyone moving behind you...only works if the other bloke notices the position of the line, and has an obvious eventual outcome).
The actual taxiing of the jets is nothing like driving your car. The lines on the taxiway can be either nose gear guidance lines, taxiway centreline markings, guidance markings, and will change from one to the other without any indication. Turn in lines to parking bays are often nose gear lines, and that stands out, but they are just as likely to be nothing more than the extended centreline of the parking bay.
At any corner you have to be very aware that the inside wheel will be well inside your view point. If I were to put the nose gear on the line at most corners, I'd drag the wing gear on the grass. So, you have to run the nose out very wide.
Have a look at how aircraft are parked next time you get a chance. The guidance that is followed by the pilots places their eyes (and it only ever works for the left seat) in a very exact spot. But, the interesting bit is the alignment of the aircraft. It's pretty rare to see one in which the rear of the aircraft is misaligned by more than a foot, and that can only be set up at the initial turn in to the bay. Now, if only people could park their cars that accurately.
