Narrative:

Occurred while giving make/model instruction to owner/pilot during the course of a wheel landing demonstration. During a wheel landing with a slight crosswind from right to left the aircraft began a slight weather vain into the wind. I then made a left rudder correction while anticipating to stop the left correction with a slight bump of the right rudder and heel brake. The brake (mechanical with cable) was extended and would not engage and required a large use of rudder for the correction. The large input of rudder became effective and the aircraft came hard right into the wind approximately 45 degrees right of centerline. I then allowed the plane to remain into the wind and depart the runway and on to the taxiway while avoiding lights and signs where I stopped the aircraft. I felt any attempt to correct left to remain on the runway would have developed a ground loop causing damage to the aircraft. After parking I contacted tower personnel and they confirmed no damage to airport property and I provided contact phone number; if needed. Inspection of the aircraft revealed no damage. My conclusion is the brakes need to be properly adjusted to be used if necessary. As this is a sensitive vintage (1949) aircraft. The aircraft has no flaps and to maintain a landing attitude for a wheel landing airspeed is up and is very sensitive to inputs. Slowing to a low energy landing the aircraft is naturally in a 3 point attitude where ground loop tendencies are diminished.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Instructor pilot reports difficulties with Luscombe heel brakes during a crosswind wheel landing. Brakes did not work as expected and large rudder input resulted in a runway departure.

Narrative: Occurred while giving make/model instruction to owner/pilot during the course of a wheel landing demonstration. During a wheel landing with a slight crosswind from right to left the aircraft began a slight weather vain into the wind. I then made a left rudder correction while anticipating to stop the left correction with a slight bump of the right rudder and heel brake. The brake (mechanical with cable) was extended and would not engage and required a large use of rudder for the correction. The large input of rudder became effective and the aircraft came hard right into the wind approximately 45 degrees right of centerline. I then allowed the plane to remain into the wind and depart the runway and on to the taxiway while avoiding lights and signs where I stopped the aircraft. I felt any attempt to correct left to remain on the runway would have developed a ground loop causing damage to the aircraft. After parking I contacted tower personnel and they confirmed no damage to airport property and I provided contact phone number; if needed. Inspection of the aircraft revealed no damage. My conclusion is the brakes need to be properly adjusted to be used if necessary. As this is a sensitive vintage (1949) aircraft. The aircraft has no flaps and to maintain a landing attitude for a wheel landing airspeed is up and is very sensitive to inputs. Slowing to a low energy landing the aircraft is naturally in a 3 point attitude where ground loop tendencies are diminished.

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.