The commercial pilot was practicing approaches and touch-and-go landings in the Piper PA28 at the airport in Simsbury, Connecticut.
The pilot reported that, during taxi for takeoff, the wheel brakes were “sluggish.” When he was attempting a full-stop landing at the destination airport, the brakes “failed.”
The pilot steered the airplane off the runway to avoid a fence and hit a ditch, which resulted in substantial damage to the left wing.
A post-accident examination revealed that the left main landing gear separated from the airplane during the ground collision, and there was evidence of pre-existing hydraulic fluid leakage where the fluid line fitting connected to the wheel brake assembly.
Additionally, the right main landing gear wheel brake assembly was not attached to the trunnion by the required AN bolts, and the hydraulic fluid line fitting was not attached to the brake assembly.
According to the maintenance logbooks, a 100-hour inspection was completed 18 days before the accident. The logbook entry noted servicing of all tires, wheels, brakes, and brake fluid.
Given that the right main landing gear hydraulic fluid line was detached from its respective brake assembly, it is likely that maintenance personnel did not adequately inspect the wheel brake system, and the right brake failed due to a loss of hydraulic fluid.
Probable cause: Maintenance personnel’s inadequate inspection of the wheel brake system during the airplane’s most recent 100-hour inspection, which resulted in a loss of hydraulic fluid and the pilot’s inability to control the airplane during the landing.
NTSB Identification: ERA19LA030
This October 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.
On one hand – when has anyone ever trained for a brake system failure? Do we even talk about that during our flight training or flight reviews? We pound engine failures to death, electrical failures too. Handling a brake failure, and landing on an icy/slippery runway are pretty similar events, so practicing a few ‘no-brake’ landings and a few simulated “one sided braking” events would be pretty straight forward training. Verbalizing a plan on what we should do during an asymmetric braking event (one sided failure) might at least give pilots a chance to deal with the issue.
On the other hand – from a procedural standpoint -routinely relying on the brakes at high speeds is a recipe for disaster -or at the least abusive to the aircraft. With proper technique and precision in the approach, it’s entirely possible to land small aircraft in the ‘book distance’ with minimal braking, and that only applied after the aircraft has slowed appreciably, in the end of the rollout, when a brake issue is easier to deal with.
Indeed, even with the pulithera of folks trying to reinvent the training wheel it is still astronomically difficult to perfect a syllabus for the totally devoid of any common sense whatsoever.
According to the NTSB report the pilot flying immediately after engine start admitted “that, during taxi out for takeoff, the wheel brakes were ‘sluggish.’ Not said in the NTSB report was that the pilot who actually taxied the aircraft out was not the pilot flying when the accident occurred. The pilot not flying during the taxi and first takeoff was verbally advised by the pilot flying that the brakes were ‘sluggish’, but didn’t have the opportunity to feel HOW sluggish. The pilot flying for the firs .5 hours of flight reported in his writeup that “After performing the engine run-up in the run-up area at the R20 (North) end of the runway with the parking brake set, I did notice that the brakes were a bit sluggish when using them to aid in turning the plane and mentioned that to Gus [the pilot flying when the accident occurred], but [I] didn’t think it too serious…” The pilot flying during the first .5 hours after engine start also reported that he executed 3 touch and goes, but never touched the brakes during any of these landings.
IMHO, both the pilot flying during the initial .5 hours and the pilot flying when the accident occurred share equally in responsibility for the mishap. While the IA who signed off the aircraft as ‘airworthy’ and returned it to service made the initial error, both pilots were oblivious to what the aircraft was telling them. For me, “sluggish” brakes would be a no-go item, i.e. it would dictate a return to the ramp to see WHY the brakes didn’t operate as they are supposed to.
Just right, Mr. JimH
Nothing about this story makes mechanical sense.
Hmmmm… One of the first things after engine start is to test the brakes before taxiing. The the pilot has to hold the brakes during the run up….
Did this guy not notice the brakes didn’t work correctly ?
Careless and reckless….