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Experimental aircraft pilot reported a brake failure during brake conditioning taxi operations resulted in a taxiway excursion; smoke and fire from the brake assembly.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1627601 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201903 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1201-1800 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Amateur/Home Built/Experimental |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 91 |
| Flight Phase | Taxi |
| Flight Plan | None |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | Hydraulic Lines Connectors Fittings |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Pilot Not Flying Single Pilot |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Private |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 2 Flight Crew Total 1385 Flight Crew Type 356 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown Ground Excursion Taxiway |
Narrative:
The plane had just been released from its annual condition inspection; which included replacing the brake pads and brake disks. I had just finished 'conditioning' the brake pads by doing several high speed taxis (30-40 mph) on the runway followed by hard application of the brakes. No flight was planned. When I got close to the end of the runway the right brake pedal went to the floor. At that point I thought the only thing wrong was either a failure of the plastic brake line or a brake line fitting came loose. So; I thought I would try to 'nurse' it back to the hangar. When I got onto taxiway alpha on the far north end of the runway; smoke started coming up into the cockpit and the plane ran off the taxiway into the grass. I got out of the plane and saw that the right wheel pant was on fire and a small grass fire had started. The fire department was called by the lineman on duty and the fire trucks were there within approximately 5 minutes and extinguished the fire. Unfortunately; the fiberglass resin burns quickly and the plane was a total loss. I am thankful that I was able to get out of the plane in plenty of time.I believe that the hard application of the brakes caused a rupture of the plastic brake line that goes to the brake caliper resulting in brake fluid spilling onto the very hot brake pads and igniting the brake fluid. I have done this conditioning process at least two times before without incident. I believe to minimize this from happening in the future; the plastic brake line leading to the brake caliper should be replaced with a metal line.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Experimental aircraft pilot reported a brake failure during brake conditioning taxi operations resulted in a taxiway excursion; smoke and fire from the brake assembly.
Narrative: The plane had just been released from its annual condition inspection; which included replacing the brake pads and brake disks. I had just finished 'conditioning' the brake pads by doing several high speed taxis (30-40 mph) on the runway followed by hard application of the brakes. No flight was planned. When I got close to the end of the runway the right brake pedal went to the floor. At that point I thought the only thing wrong was either a failure of the plastic brake line or a brake line fitting came loose. So; I thought I would try to 'nurse' it back to the hangar. When I got onto Taxiway Alpha on the far north end of the runway; smoke started coming up into the cockpit and the plane ran off the taxiway into the grass. I got out of the plane and saw that the right wheel pant was on fire and a small grass fire had started. The fire department was called by the lineman on duty and the fire trucks were there within approximately 5 minutes and extinguished the fire. Unfortunately; the fiberglass resin burns quickly and the plane was a total loss. I am thankful that I was able to get out of the plane in plenty of time.I believe that the hard application of the brakes caused a rupture of the plastic brake line that goes to the brake caliper resulting in brake fluid spilling onto the very hot brake pads and igniting the brake fluid. I have done this conditioning process at least two times before without incident. I believe to minimize this from happening in the future; the plastic brake line leading to the brake caliper should be replaced with a metal line.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.