Flight instructor reports left brake failure and taxiway excursion before aircraft came to a stop in...

Attributes
ACN	840078
Time
Date	200906
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	Small Aircraft
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	None
Component
Aircraft Component	Normal Brake System
Person 1
Function	Instructor
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 90 Flight Crew Total 485 Flight Crew Type 212
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Ground Excursion Taxiway Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control

Narrative:

As I was taxing to the runway on taxiway K; I pulled my power to idle and I applied the brakes to slow down the aircraft in order to hold short of the runway. My left brake did not respond. Since this is a brake steering aircraft; the aircraft turned right. I applied full left brake to try to stop the turn; but the left brake failed to operate. At that point I knew I was headed straight into the grass to the right of taxiway K. I released the right brake but this did not help my situation. Without my left brake to stop the turn I could not do anything else but pull back on the stick and try to maintain the nose up. I went into the grass and the plane fully stopped to the right of taxiway K. The plane was returned to the maintenance department so the left brake could be inspected.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Flight instructor reports left brake failure and taxiway excursion before aircraft came to a stop in the grass.

Narrative: As I was taxing to the runway on Taxiway K; I pulled my power to idle and I applied the brakes to slow down the aircraft in order to hold short of the runway. My left brake did not respond. Since this is a brake steering aircraft; the aircraft turned right. I applied full left brake to try to stop the turn; but the left brake failed to operate. At that point I knew I was headed straight into the grass to the right of Taxiway K. I released the right brake but this did not help my situation. Without my left brake to stop the turn I could not do anything else but pull back on the stick and try to maintain the nose up. I went into the grass and the plane fully stopped to the right of Taxiway K. The plane was returned to the maintenance department so the left brake could be inspected.

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.