The pilot reported that, during landing at the airport in Mount Sterling, Kentucky, after it had just rained, the Cessna 402 touched down on the first third of the wet runway on the centerline.
During the landing roll, he let the airplane roll to the end of the runway so that he did not have to use excessive brake inputs.
He added that, as he turned left toward the taxiway, he noticed the brakes were not very effective and that the airplane began to pivot to the right. He felt the right main landing gear and nosewheel slide. The airplane left the runway, and the nosewheel “bumped and folded.”
Subsequently, the airplane came to rest nose down.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage.
The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Probable cause: The pilot’s failure to maintain directional control during the landing roll on a wet surface.
NTSB Identification: GAA18CA139
This February 2018 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
Given that he was using a 5000′ runway it does not seem likely that he could have much speed left at the very end even with moderate braking applied. It is not all that fast a landing aircraft to begin with so why was there so much speed left that those wheel would skid? I think this was a case of the pilot being overly cautious and not actually applying anything close to the available brake force. The pilot could have attempted stronger breaking and just let off if there was any sign of skidding.
I have spent many years developing software for pilot training simulators and from my experience modeling interaction between aircraft tires and runways, a wet runway (no significant puddling) does not cause that severe of a loss of available braking force. By the way the absolute worst surface is wet ice as the available friction is nil under those conditions. That is one reason that the big aircraft use reversed thrust.to aid in stopping on contaminated runways.
Wet whether rain or snow should have brakes applied enough to dry the disk and pads. Brakes are a consumable. Tires also have a limited life.
Aluminum is expensive.