cessna 172 off roading

korben88

korben88

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Troy
Working on aborted takeoffs during my flight lesson yesterday and I had a bit of an incident.

After explaining the procedure my instructor had my try one. It went okay, but not great. We taxied back around and he demonstrated one. We taxied back again, and I attempted another.
I throttled up, hit about 50 Kias and he says "abort".

I pull power, slide my feet up, hit the brakes and the plane shoots to the right.

My instructor immediately took control of the plane and steers us between 2 landing lights and off into the field. No damage done except to my heart as it was beating out of my chest.

Once stopped and we verified that we were both okay my instructor asked what happened. "It felt like the left brake wasn't there" was my response, although I wasn't sure that I hadn't screwed up somehow.

As soon as we got a break in the traffic, he taxied back across the runway to the taxiway and verified that the left brak was a bit squishy. So we (he) headed to the hanger and called the mechanic onsite. The mechanic checked the fluid level, it was half empty.

There was no sign of a leak around the wheel when I did my preflight, and the mechanic couldn't see a leak near the caliper either and said he would have to dig into it deeper when he had time. I will ask him what he found when I see him next.

Suffice to say it was my most exciting and shortest flight lesson yet (put .7 on the hobbs and never even left the ground)
 
Checking brake fluid levels is a 100-hour inspection item. It often gets ignored because the master cylinders are a real pain to get at without getting a kink your neck, or dropping the plug into the cavity under the rudder bars.

All calipers seep a small amount of fluid. As they age they seep more. They use simple O-rings rather than the more exotic seals automobiles have, and heat, age, and corrosion of the piston bore increase the seep rate. The hoses from the master cylinders to the aluminum brake lines are another item that often get left until they fail, which is another place to look for leakage.
 
Did that exact thing yesterday - for a different reason.

Sounds like the four of us got to learn some really good lessons pretty cheaply.

Glad it worked out okay.
 
One of my instructors years back drilled into me check the brakes during initial taxi, and again as part of the pre-landing check. On the later, said its not much fun to be surprised while braking during the roll out. Sounded like that came from experience.
 
Stingray Don said:
How did the brakes feel when you tested during preflight? Any hint of an issue?
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They felt fine during preflight. In fact we even practiced taxiing in wind for a few minutes in the transient lot before the first aborted takeoff.

I will say that as I was turning onto the runway I felt like maybe I had to push a little harder on the brake. In hindsight I should have said something, but it wasn't so much so that it was obviously an issue.
 
GRG55 said:
One of my instructors years back drilled into me check the brakes during initial taxi, and again as part of the pre-landing check. On the later, said its not much fun to be surprised while braking during the roll out. Sounded like that came from experience.
Click to expand...

How do you check pre-landing? Just press them to make sure they have the rught amount of pressure?
 
just a point for info sake but a "half empty" reservoir isn't gonna cause a soft brake. It's just like a fuel tank, engine is going to run fine until it's empty.
 
Stuff happens. You don't gain experience without having stuff happen to you.

Something I would take away from that incident would be that, if the runway allows, only use what you need to get the airplane stopped before the end. You're not in an airliner doing an RTO. Don't get on the brakes so hard and you won't be so surprised so quickly.
 
korben88 said:
I'm guessing it sucked an air bubble in.
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More likely, you feel the leak. You're actively pumping brake fluid overboard when you use the brake.

A decently designed system will not suck air until it's empty.

Topping it off will not fix the problem.
 
With a castering nose wheel, that would be a disaster. In a plane with a steerable nose wheel, it just means you'll take longer to stop. Use the rudder pedals to maintain directional stability and brake only as heavily as you can still counter-steer the nose wheel. Also, you're flying, so use proper control inputs if wind is trying to blow you off the runway.

Many years ago I once landed at a commercial airport and discovered my right brake went out. Land was fine but I had to make a 270 left turn to make the taxiway turns to get to the ramp. That was fun.
 
1. During training (with CFI), took off from rwy 1, and on climbout, about 800-900 ft, the engine started sputtering. He took control, made a left turn, and landed on rwy 14. I wanted to do it but he wouldn't let me even though I was cool and collected and he was freaking out (botched our call sign to the tower)
2. This was a real scare. A few months after getting my cert, I was taking my 12 year old towards to do the Hudson flight. I passed under JFK Bravo (400-450') along the beach, and once I passed it I started to climb. As I slowly went to full power, the engine didn't sound right and I noticed that I wasn't climbing well. I looked at my vertical and it was only 150-200 fpm at full power (or so I thought). And plane started to shake a little followed by more and more. At the time, I was probably at 700 feet, so I made a coordinated quick 180, called JFK tower back, and told her that I was heading back east towards my airport. I limped home doing 90-95 and landed at FRG with no issue. Turned out to be a cracked cylinder head. Looking back, especially with my daughter on board, no doubt that I should have declared and headed for JFK. But being new, I was intimidated by the big planes, but more so by the water between me and JFK. I figured the safety of land (beach) was better than a water ditching. But in the plane I was cool and collected. Out of the plane a mess, heart beating out of my chest, wobbly knees, and a strong urge to urinate.:D :blueplane: https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/close-call.91204/
 
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korben88 said:
How do you check pre-landing? Just press them to make sure they have the rught amount of pressure?
Click to expand...

Sort of. The pressure you apply is the pressure you feel. You are looking for sponginess, and in an extreme case, to see if the pedal bottoms on the cockpit floor or firewall. -Skip
 
MAKG1 said:
More likely, you feel the leak. You're actively pumping brake fluid overboard when you use the brake.

A decently designed system will not suck air until it's empty.

Topping it off will not fix the problem.
Click to expand...

I flew for an operator that had an airplane where the brake fluid needed to be added about every other day....wouldn't fix it because they didn't have the parts. It's a lot of fun when landing on a icy runway with a 30 knot crosswind and you only got one brake....
 
I landed tonight with a 10-12 knot headwind. That means I touched down at about 30 knots.

Brakes? Who needs 'em? I had to add power to scoot on down to Alpha-4 to get off the runway. LOL.
 
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