Vision jet goes for a swim

luvflyin said:
Someone said something about a brake locking up. Someone else wondered if the nose gear is steerable or does it use differential braking to steer
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It looks like the plane turns 30° to the left and then goes straight. If a brake locked, would it straighten out or continue turning?
 
Lindberg said:
It looks like the plane turns 30° to the left and then goes straight. If a brake locked, would it straighten out or continue turning?
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If it stayed locked and the right brake wasn’t working I guess so. What the pilot said to Ground was he lost braking.
 
It was more creative version of the accidental gear up landing.

:biggrin:
 
ktup-flyer said:
Pilot told me the right brake failed. The nose wheel is free-castering, so there’s no steering control at taxi speeds without them. Great design, Cirrus!
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There are many thousands of small planes built that way.
 
ktup-flyer said:
Pilot told me the right brake failed. The nose wheel is free-castering, so there’s no steering control at taxi speeds without them. Great design, Cirrus!
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Also Grummans. And Columbias. And my Sky Arrow. And no doubt others. It’s a design choice with pros and cons.

As far as taxi speed, a little extra allows the rudder to do most of the work.
 
That's a slam dunk!

... or a crying shame.
 
My Lancair, and I believe all Lancairs, have the free castoring nosewheel. Directional control is really not difficult using rudder alone with any speed above a slow taxi. One recommendation I have seen advocated on the Lancair forum is to test the brakes prior to touchdown. Doing this may give an indication of unilateral brake failure before directional control is lost on the ground.
 
If the plane is pressurized, the engine top mounted, would it stay mostly dry if you powered across and out the other side? I'd try it.
 
FastEddieB said:
Not doubting you, but which Cessnas and Pipers have free castoring nosewheels? Most of the most common ones certainly don’t.
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Skycatcher and Pipersport.

Also I don't remember if the Cessna (Columbia) 400 had a steering linkage or not.
 
Two VJ incidences in one week. Our insurance underwriters are updating their rates upward as we read this thread.
 
asicer said:
Skycatcher and Pipersport.

Also I don't remember if the Cessna (Columbia) 400 had a steering linkage or not.
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Yes, many modern Light Sports have chosen free castoring nose gear. The Skycatcher was a clean sheet design, and the Pipersport was a rebadged Czech Light Sport. I was thinking more of the legacy aircraft, the vast majority having steerable nose gear.

Pretty sure the Columbia/Cessna 400’s were free castoring as well.

In any case, it’s not rare, nor an indicator of poor design.
 
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FORANE said:
One recommendation I have seen advocated on the Lancair forum is to test the brakes prior to touchdown. Doing this may give an indication of unilateral brake failure before directional control is lost on the ground.
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Checking the brakes is on the very short pre-landing checklist on my Sky Arrow, along with boost pump on and seat belts fastened. The idea is that if one of the brakes has no pressure, you can seek out a long, wide runway if your home base or destination has a short and/or narrow runway. At normal landing and rollout speeds the rudder does a pretty good job of steering down to walking speeds.
 
FastEddieB said:
Yes, many modern Light Sports have chosen free castoring nose gear. The Skycatcher was a clean sheet design, and the Pipersport was a rebadged Czech Light Sport.
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Yeah, I cheated a little bit on the Pipersport :)

But it’s not just LSA, but modern designs in general. Look at the Tecnam P2010 and the various Diamonds.
 
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