B747-400 Captain reported loss of steering control when attempting right hand turns during taxi.

2023-05 · NASA ASRS report 2003184

Date: 2023-05 · Aircraft: B747-400 · Phase: taxi

Anomalies: aircraft-equipment-problem-critical|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|ground-event-encounter-loss-of-aircraft-control

Synopsis

B747-400 Captain reported loss of steering control when attempting right hand turns during taxi.

Narrative

Tiller Inability to fully turn the airplane in a 90 degree right turn during taxi (ZZZZ)After landing in ZZZZ and while making the 90 degree right turn at the intersection of Taxiway X to Taxiway Y; the airplane tiller (and/or system) failed to give full right authority and the airplane continued moving ahead at 6-8 kts. ground speed despite FULL right tiller input.Subsequently braking and asymmetrical thrust had to be applied in order to quickly rectify the situation before the airplane got into an area that would require a push tug or leave it unable to maneuver. With 3 right turns remaining prior to arrival to the parking bay XXX; I decided to utilize those remaining right turns to test the steering and tiller input and found that there was a significant control input problem in this area and system while making right turns. It was noted that momentarily reducing right tiller input and pressure during the hard 90 turn would restore some of the lost right turn tiller authority.I also instructed the rest of the crew to monitor my tiller inputs vs airplane turning position and they all witnessed the problem during the 3 remaining right turns. An earlier than normal and wide right turn into the parking bay had to be made due to another 747's wingtip on the left side of the bay as I could not make a full 90 degree turn and risk the airplane ending up in a position that would compromise clearance and leave it unable to maneuver any further.The event was entered into log and should be considered extremely serious. Due to the fact that there were NO Advisory EICAS MESSAGES or Status Messages generated; Maintenance Personnel were left to make deductions and trouble shoot possible causes to this issue with no definitive answers. It should also be noted that several months ago other Captains have experienced the same issue in Aircraft X and it went unreported; however I'm personally aware that this may in fact be an intermittent Boeing issue with the 747-400 as I've previously encountered the same identical issue in the right turn in the ERF series while taxiing in ZZZZ1 three years prior.Maintenance should check with Boeing regards this issue whether 747-400 operators have reported similar events and investigate a root cause to this problem before it becomes a serious event.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.

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