Narrative:

After landing on runway 7R; on which the braking action was good; we slowed down keeping the engines in idle reverse until the taxiway turnoff east. (The tower told us to clear either via east or D; and as east is first and we were very much slowed down I elected to make that turn.) just prior to turnoff I returned the engines to forward idle; aircraft fully under control. Very slowly turned to the left off the runway onto taxiway east. Initially the turn went fine; no issues with the nose steering slipping; and then as I was beginning to straighten out the nose the aircraft began to slide to the left. I tried tiller and both brakes then just the right brake; no help. I momentarily lifted the reversers to kill the forward thrust and held the brakes full on. The aircraft stopped at an angle a bit left of the taxiway heading and quite left of centerline. Didn't think I was too close so I tried to very slowly turn right and move forward. Still wanted to slide; so I decided enough and I set the brakes. We advised the tower that we were not going to attempt any further movement. Started APU and shut down engines; called operations. They began to work on getting a tug out to us; while we waited the airport folks drove out and confirmed that we were not off the taxiway nor had the engines hit anything. When the tug arrived the mechanic told me that he slipped and fell once by the nose gear and nearly fell a couple of more times; in other words 'very slick!' they sanded the area ahead of the tug and they were able to pull us across runway 7L at which point we started engines and taxied to the ramp without any further problem. We also made sure that the tower was made very aware that the taxiway had nil braking conditions; they confirmed that it was now closed.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: The flight crew of a large transport encountered nil braking while taxiing clear of the runway. The Captain elected to shut down and get towed across the icy patch.

Narrative: After landing on Runway 7R; on which the braking action was good; we slowed down keeping the engines in idle reverse until the taxiway turnoff E. (The Tower told us to clear either via E or D; and as E is first and we were very much slowed down I elected to make that turn.) Just prior to turnoff I returned the engines to forward idle; aircraft fully under control. Very slowly turned to the left off the runway onto Taxiway E. Initially the turn went fine; no issues with the nose steering slipping; and then as I was beginning to straighten out the nose the aircraft began to slide to the left. I tried tiller and both brakes then just the right brake; no help. I momentarily lifted the reversers to kill the forward thrust and held the brakes full on. The aircraft stopped at an angle a bit left of the taxiway heading and quite left of centerline. Didn't think I was too close so I tried to very slowly turn right and move forward. Still wanted to slide; so I decided enough and I set the brakes. We advised the Tower that we were not going to attempt any further movement. Started APU and shut down engines; called Operations. They began to work on getting a tug out to us; while we waited the airport folks drove out and confirmed that we were not off the taxiway nor had the engines hit anything. When the tug arrived the Mechanic told me that he slipped and fell once by the nose gear and nearly fell a couple of more times; in other words 'Very Slick!' They sanded the area ahead of the tug and they were able to pull us across Runway 7L at which point we started engines and taxied to the Ramp without any further problem. We also made sure that the Tower was made very aware that the taxiway had nil braking conditions; they confirmed that it was now closed.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.