Struggling with backing, new driver.

The other end...? What other end? Errr.... There's no exit in the other end...



The ramp (red arrow) is the only one exit/entry and the back of that strip mall ends at a wall and there's not enough room for a big truck to turn around... Not really a great place to back a semi extended cab with 53' trailer...
But hey... I went there again today and met the same driver waiting to do his backing.... and this time I watched...

The dock is where the small white straight truck was... the semi with the blue trailer was waiting...



It took the driver several pull ups in order to back that trailer... His tail was going towards the little concrete wall on the right and his cab and front left corner of trailer and drives were almost touching the wall and the rail on the left...


After 4 or 5 pull ups, he was able to back the trailer to the dock but it wasn't parallel to the dock and so he had to pull up to the left, do a few more back and forth and then slide the tandems all the way to the rear and then finish his backing...



And everything took less than 15 mins... maybe 10mins...
The guy is a real professional truck driver... and I congratulated him again...
He told me has been driving for 20 yrs and probably goes to that dock every day...

Only one question I didn't ask... how does he do to leave that place without hitting that tip of the rail.... Wish I had stayed to watch...

 

There is no magic solution or silver bullet, at least that I ever found. It comes with practice and eventually it just sort of clicks. You'll have good days and bad days but the good days will (hopefully) outnumber the bad ones. Unless you are pressed for time or something ask your trainer to simply instruct and keep you from backing into anything and let you keep trying. Everyone struggles with backing.