CDL School Update And Offset Backing Question

Oh, maybe aiming points is the term I was looking for. I think I'm getting the hang of the concept. I needed almost no instructor prompting by the end of the day. And I keep forgetting I get 2 pull ups and not to be afraid to use them. It's coming along.

Im also in cdl class working on backing, with offset they showed us to start with one full turn of the wheel (opposite direction of where u want ur trailer to go of course) and watch your landing gear on your trailer. When your tractor tandems are aligned with the center of ur landing gear u turn in the oposite direction till ur tractor trailer are straight (alligned with each other) you will be at an angle to where u wanna back into, but its basically a straightline back up from there. They had yellow tape on the center crossbar on our landing gear so that helped us to see it. Anticipate your turning as u start getting close to the center of ur landing gear. Without a refernce point like that ,your kinda guessing when to turn. Hope this helps , of course practice makes perfect, and it helped me immensley. Also works great on ur blindside offset, but youll have to look hard in your little convex mirror on passenger side to see landing gear,, everything else is hidden. Its a bit challenging , and this was on a 53 van trailer so i hope this helps u out. Good luck, its a great feeling to be passing these test, and with ur pretrip test, just go slow and talk about every part u see , cuz basically theyre having us know everypart , seems overwhelming, but just go step by stepp. I was tested yesterday and passed, missed a few things like the big red object with the white label on it at ur seat inside. Yea, the extinguisher, i looked at it as i was getting inside to do my in cab, but cuz i only was tested on coupling and my trailer, i just looked at it and thought, no, thats part of the front of the truck. Lol. So yea, go slow and talk about everything. This wound up being much longer post than i expected:) Good Luck!!!!

Yeah, I go super slow. I don't think I've put my foot on the accelerator once since being there. Don't plan on it either. It's getting a little easier. I still have to use both pull ups, but I'm able to recognize a problem a little earlier now, which helps.