Frozen Brakes

SLagonia

SLagonia

Pre-Flight
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May 31, 2005
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Sal
Well, this could have been much worse. I pre-heated my Cardinal and added power to begin my taxi - noticed that it took a bit more power than usual. Taxied out to the runup area and realized my left brake was not catching at all. Decided to taxi back and check it - when I applied hard left rudder and the brake engaged. Great! Maybe we should go now! Nope! A few seconds later the brake froze in the closed position and my Cardinal was stuck doing circles in the taxiway. A mechanic and airport tug came to the rescue in short order and found ice in the brake line.

It dawned on me though, how much worse this could have been. Suppose the brake stuck after I had taxied into position on the runway, applied full power, and began the takeoff roll. A sharp left turn at 60 kts is not a good thing! Lesson learned - When you know your plane and something does not seem quite right - it's time to ask questions before plowing ahead.
 
Good story Sal, a reminder for this time of year.
Dad flew in to see me in a 172 years ago, we watched as he touched down..... then jerked to the left, almost into a snow bank. Seems the brake lining froze some melted snow onto the disk during the flight. Kind of hard on the tires (and the blood pressure)!
Another thing that might have helped you is; some do the --Power up, start it just rolling, then 'Brakes Check'-- when they first leave the tiedown. I don't always remember it :(
 
Tim said:
Ice IN the brake line? hummm
Click to expand...

Ice in the brake line - at the point where it activates the brake piston. You can bet I will do the brake check in the future - although in this case - the real problem occurred well after I left the tie down. However, knowing the brakes had failed at the tie down would have been a clue of a problem.

Spring can't be too far away - :)

Sal
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Another thing that might have helped you is; some do the --Power up, start it just rolling, then 'Brakes Check'-- when they first leave the tiedown. I don't always remember it :(
Click to expand...

It's a line item in my custom checklists for all 4 club planes. Paranoid? Me? Around machines that are trying to kill me? You bet.
 
Guess my first CFI really was right. LOL
She got me in the habit of checking the brakes as soon as I started to roll from day one, and then she checked her side.

Good lesson for all of us Sal, thanks for posting it.
 
I would be very concerned about water getting into your brake lines. I can see if you brake froze due to ice around the caliber. But if you have water and ise in the brake lines a good draining and cleaning would be in order. Even after the thaw your brakes could have a less the desired affect due to the water contamination.
 
markb5900 said:
Guess my first CFI really was right. LOL
She got me in the habit of checking the brakes as soon as I started to roll from day one, and then she checked her side.
Click to expand...

I think this was the one thing my CFI didn't like when checking me out in the Arrow. I had the only brakes. :D
 
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